The politician and former country chief of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt André Poggenburg leaves the party apparently. AfD Federal Board Member Kay Gottschalk confirmed to the German Press Agency that Poggenburg had announced his resignation.
In March 2018 Poggenburg had resigned as party and faction leader of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt. Previously, he had been criticized for several speeches. For example, in a speech on Ash Wednesday, he had defamed members of the Turkish community in Germany as „caraway traders“ and „camel drivers“. The federal executive of the AfD had only recently closed Poggenburg for all offices for a period of two years. For the new year Poggenburg had wished on Twitter „the fellow citizens of our national community a healthy, peaceful and patriotic 2019“.
Is Poggenburg planning to found a new movement?
About the reason for Poggenburg’s exit from the AfD, there is speculation that Poggenburg would like to found a new party. Spiegel Online quoted Egbert Ermer, the former head of the AfD district association Saxon Switzerland Eastern Ore Mountains and confidants of Poggenburg: „The project party start today.“ He planned a „Central German movement“ with branches in Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. According to Rolf Süssmann, member of the board of the AfD-Kreisverband Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirg, Ermer also resigned from the AfD. Three other AfD members of the district association would have left the party with him.
A new grouping of Poggenburg could reportedly get the name „The National Conservatives“. The grouping should be aimed at dissatisfied AFD members from the right wing. Poggenburg as well as Ermer are to maintain long close contact with the xenophobic Pegida movement.
In Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, regional elections will take place in the autumn of this year.
