The chairman of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) district committee in Cottbus is 27 years old, but he is already a veteran in the party. Jean-Pascal Homme has been a member of the AfD since the local and provincial elections ten years ago, when the party first entered the parliament in Brandenburg. From the beginning, he worked on the AfD's long-term strategy, which includes its path to the so-called the "people's party", which is the name used in Germany for the large, traditional parties, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
In the south of Brandenburg, this strategy is particularly visible. In the local elections in Cottbus, Hom led his party to have the strongest parliamentary group in the city's parliament with 29,2 percent of the votes won. He will probably enter the parliament of Brandenburg after the regional elections in September. In addition, in the provincial elections held five years ago in Cottbus, the AfD took over the electoral district from the Social Democrats who ruled there for a long time.
For decades Brandenburg was dominated by the color red, the color of the Social Democrats. Since last Sunday's local elections, that German province has been painted blue, which is the color of Alternative for Germany.
Connecting with local protest initiatives
The AfD's recipe for success is that the party took advantage of local protests and the discontent of citizens across Germany. It was from that milieu that the coalition partners later emerged, explains Hom: "Whether it was wind farms or asylum centers, we knew we had to connect with those people who were against it at the local level."
That was the case recently in Liben, the seat of the Dame-Sprewald district. When plans for the construction of a refugee center were announced last year, the civil initiative "Naš Liben" was founded with the aim of preventing the construction of a shelter for refugees. The chairman of the AfD parliamentary group in the provincial parliament and currently the party's leading candidate in the upcoming provincial elections, Hans-Christoph Bernt, has supported this civic initiative from the beginning. He himself comes from the civic initiative "The Future of the Homeland", which was founded as a sign of protest against the construction of a refugee center. He is associated with Pegida in Dresden and the New Right movement in East Germany.
Parliamentary group – between the parliament and the street
During his tenure, Bernt expanded the AfD's parliamentary group in the provincial parliament, turning it into a "mobile apparatus", which designs campaigns between parliament and the street. In its offices, the AfD has employed numerous right-wing extremists who have the potential to mobilize people and experience in campaigns of various initiatives.
In the election campaign, Bernt was constantly followed by an associate from the right-wing "Identity Movement", who continuously produced videos about the AfD's leading candidate for social networks. Sometimes he portrays Bernt as an activist of the movement, sometimes as an AfD functionary. In addition, Bernt and the member of the Bundestag, Rene Springer, who is the new president of the AfD in Brandenburg from 2024, united the previously divided provincial branch of the AfD at the beginning of the election year.
At the protests against the construction of the refugee center in Liben, Bernt, as an energetic speaker, performed together with other AfD officials. Their candidate for the provincial parliament elections last November, Bundestag member Steffen Kotre, made a promise in front of the construction site that can be seen and heard on a TikTok video: "I will prevent this as mayor." Although he failed to win the mayor's office , nor to prevent the construction of a refugee center, he won 41,3 percent of the votes in the elections in Lebanon. The AfD could continue to build on its success.
Free lists instead of firewalls
At the vote for the electoral district last Sunday, Alternative for Germany won 25,6 percent of the votes in Liben and became the strongest force there for the first time. "Naš Liben" appeared with its own list of candidates for the City Council, together with partners from the AfD. Together, they won more than 30 percent of the vote. In Liben, as in other places, the AfD has linked itself with individual electoral lists at the local level. There was also a debate in the media about the alleged defense against the AfD, although it is possible only in the cases of certain parties. The influence of the big parties decreases after each election in favor of free alliances and the Alternative for Germany itself.
In Cottbus, the new "Brandenburg Middle Class Initiative" entered the city parliament. It is an association of entrepreneurs that in Lusatia, in the style of the AfD, criticizes the policy of the ruling "traffic light coalition", which consists of the SPD, the Greens and the Liberals (FDP) and shares some of the positions of the AfD, such as the end of sanctions against Russia and the suspension of arms deliveries to Ukraine . Together with AfD and farmers, entrepreneurs stopped traffic around the city in January. The president of Alternative in Cottbus, Hom, sees in this "opening the door for political changes" that bring support to his party as well.
AfD has been present at farmers' protests across the country from the beginning, including its leading candidate Hans-Christoph Bernt. Zilke Müller, a farmer from the small town of Golsen in the Spreewald and active in the Southern Brandenburg Agricultural Union, remembers Bernt and other AfD members providing food and drink for their people at demonstrations: "Then suddenly there was no more talk of diesel subsidies for farmers, not about taxes, but about foreigners and other topics that have nothing to do with agriculture," says Miller.
Everyone knows someone from the AfD
Hans-Christoph Bernt summarizes his strategy like this: "My understanding of the AfD is that this party gathers many dissatisfied people. I see it as a kind of institutionalized civil movement."
In this way, the AfD wants to become the strongest political force in Brandenburg. Her work style includes volunteer engagement and field presence. "We are active in civic associations. Our members are in the voluntary fire service," says Jean-Pascal Homme. "We are everywhere people gather. What particularly strengthens us here in the East is that we are now deeply rooted in society. And that everyone knows someone from the AfD."
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