Alternative for Germany’s (AFD) top Thuringian candidate for the 2024 regional parliamentary elections praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as an example of one of the last true politicians in Europe.
Björn Höcke offered his view on Orbán at the state party conference of the Thuringian AfD in Pfiffelbach in the Weimarer Land district.
“He is a role model, he is perhaps one of the last statesmen in Europe,” Höcke said, adding that you can still express your opinion in Hungary and admitting he likes to travel to Hungary to breathe freely.
Orbán, who stands up for Hungarian national interests even if it means going against the prevailing opinions in the European Union, is depicted by mainstream Western media as a right-wing nationalist troublemaker.
He has often criticized the EU’s sanctions against Russia as both ineffective and more hurtful to the EU economy than to their intended target.
Höcke wants to run as his party’s top candidate in the next state election in 2024.
“I want to lead you into the 2024 state election as the top candidate,” Höcke shouted to the roughly 250 Thuringian AfD members. “I want us to hunt the establishment.”
In his speech, Höcke also attacked Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow, saying: “If you dare to actually run again as the top candidate for the left, then you will be completely defeated after the 2024 state elections.” The AfD Thuringia will give “this washed-up prime minister (a) political Waterloo,” Höcke shouted.
Thuringia’s AfD is classified by the state’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution as an extremist outfit, and the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. However, such a designation has been used by the German government to run a campaign to delegitimize the AfD and implement mass surveillance against the party.
In the last state election in Thuringia, the AfD came second behind the Left Party with 23.4 percent of the vote.
