AfD on democracy and the state

The AfD wants voting to be reserved for people who have reached the age of majority. It calls this its clear position in the debate over voting rights.

The AfD wants only adults to vote. In Germany you are an adult at 18. Younger people should not vote.

The platform links the right to vote to reaching legal adulthood, meaning age 18. The AfD presents this as its firm stance in the debate about the voting age. The demand appears alongside its ideal of a democracy in which citizens take an active part.

The AfD wants to defend freedom of expression and demands that the state actively protect it. In its view, the state government has the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) fight unwelcome positions, and this practice should end.

The AfD says everyone should be able to speak freely. The state should protect this right. The Verfassungsschutz is a state intelligence service. The AfD says it should not fight opinions.

According to the platform, people with dissenting views are being intimidated and excluded, especially since the period of the Covid measures. The AfD accuses the state government of having disparaged critical voices. The state should protect free expression even when exclusion comes from civil society groups. The party wants to end the use of the Verfassungsschutz against positions the government dislikes.

The AfD wants to make direct democracy in Thuringia more workable. Fewer signatures should be needed for citizens' initiatives and referendums, and citizens should be able to overturn laws passed by the state parliament through a vote.

The AfD wants citizens to have more say. Fewer signatures should be enough to start a citizens' initiative. In such an initiative, citizens propose a law themselves. Citizens should also be able to stop laws passed by the state parliament.

In the AfD's view, current rules hinder citizen participation rather than encourage it. It wants to lower signature thresholds and reduce formal requirements for bills proposed by the people. Government, administration and courts should not obstruct such procedures. In addition, citizens should have the final say on state parliament laws and be able to reject them, for example if they consider them out of touch or too burdensome. The party describes the goal as moving from a spectator democracy to a participatory one.

The AfD wants citizens to be able to dissolve the state parliament early through a referendum. In addition, the people should have a mandatory say in every amendment to the state constitution.

The AfD wants citizens to be able to vote out the state parliament early. This should happen through a public vote. Citizens should also always vote on changes to the constitution.

As a possible reason for a recall, the platform cites dissatisfaction with the state parliament or with a governing coalition. The AfD points to Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg and Rhineland-Palatinate, where such a referendum already exists. It justifies the demand by citing citizen participation and popular sovereignty. For constitutional amendments, it calls for mandatory involvement of the people.

The AfD wants to tie the size of the state parliament to the population. Instead of the regular 88 members there would be 62, which the party says would relieve taxpayers.

The AfD wants a smaller state parliament. Today it normally has 88 members. In the future it should have 62. The AfD says this saves tax money.

The platform considers Thuringia's parliament too large compared with other states and relative to its population. In the future, one member should stand for 35,000 residents, up from 25,000 now. By the AfD's calculation, this would cut the chamber from 88 to 62 seats. The party expects lower costs for taxpayers as a result.

The AfD rejects voting rights for foreigners because, in its view, they contradict popular sovereignty. Participation in direct-democratic votes at every level should likewise be limited to people who hold German citizenship.

The AfD wants foreigners not to be allowed to vote. They should also not take part in referendums. For that, a person should have to be a German citizen.

The platform understands democratic self-determination as tied to citizenship. The AfD describes voting rights for foreigners as a hollowing out of popular sovereignty. For referendums and similar votes, it demands citizenship as a mandatory requirement at all levels.

The AfD opposes letting a person's political convictions decide access to public service, training, meeting venues, gun ownership or public contracts. It sees this as a path to a state that polices opinions, which it considers incompatible with fundamental rights.

The AfD says the state must not treat people by their political opinion. Opinion should not decide who may work for the state. It should not decide who gets rooms or contracts either. Police and authorities should enforce the law equally for everyone.

The platform lists examples: working in public service, completing training, access to meeting venues, legal gun ownership and public contracts. State interference with fundamental rights must always be proportionate. Representatives of the rule of law, such as the police, should have political backing for lawful measures. Religion, skin color or political stance should play no role in law enforcement.

The AfD wants political parties to have no say in appointing judges and prosecutors. It argues that appointments, for example of constitutional judges, have become politicized and that this weakens trust in the judiciary.

The AfD wants an independent justice system. Parties should no longer help decide who becomes a judge or prosecutor. The AfD says politics has too much influence today. Peaceful members of the opposition should also be allowed to work in the justice system.

According to the platform, governing parties place people in constitutional court posts who have previously signaled support for government policy. It says this affects rulings. In the future, neither direct nor indirect party influence on such appointments should be possible. The party also wants to abolish what it calls professional bans in the judiciary for law-abiding, peaceful members of the opposition.

The AfD wants to deliberately raise the share of East Germans among judges and prosecutors in Thuringia, saying they are underrepresented. Public bodies and companies should also award advisory mandates to Thuringian law firms more often.

The AfD wants more East Germans as judges and prosecutors in Thuringia. It says too few East Germans work there so far. Courts should know East German life experience. Public offices and companies should also hire lawyers from Thuringia more often.

The platform attributes the low share of East Germans to hiring practices since reunification. People appearing in court in Thuringia should be able to trust that East German experiences and perspectives are taken into account. The state, municipalities and local companies would be encouraged to give mandates to local firms. The AfD wants to support the marketing of regional legal expertise and raise awareness among executives.

The AfD wants to abolish the "Landesprogramm für Demokratie, Toleranz und Weltoffenheit" (state program for democracy, tolerance and open-mindedness). It would be replaced by a funding program that supports clubs for their regular work under their bylaws and their contribution to cultural life. The party sees the current program as funding based on political conviction.

Thuringia has a funding program for democracy and tolerance. The AfD wants to end this program. It says the program only funds certain opinions. A new program should fund clubs for their normal work.

In the party's view, the existing state program ties money to an ideological stance that has nothing to do with the actual purpose of the clubs. It regards this as politicizing club life and cultural life. The new program would fund regular club activity according to what it contributes to the culture of the home region. More generally, the AfD criticizes today's cultural funding as centralist and as making art close to the government.

The AfD rejects a territorial reform that would create larger counties and municipalities and wants to keep Thuringia's small-scale administrative structure where it has proven itself. Instead, it favors an administrative reform preceded by a review of tasks.

The AfD does not want bigger counties and municipalities. The small local governments should stay. Mayors and county leaders should be close to the people. But the AfD wants to check which tasks the administration has. After that, the administration should be reformed.

The platform points to Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, which it says also have small-scale, citizen-friendly administration and are economically strong. According to the Ifo Institute in Dresden and the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim, it says, the territorial reforms in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt saved nothing and alienated residents from their home regions. Mayors, municipal councils, county heads, and county councils should remain within easy reach of residents. The AfD wants to prevent very large counties and municipalities because, in its view, they lead to an anonymous and distant administration.