AfD leaders demand abolition of mail voting and dismiss climate change before state elections

Mail-in ballot skepticism and coalition appeals

Ahead of state elections in eastern and northern Germany, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Tino Chrupalla questioned the integrity of mail-in voting during his ARD summer interview. The 51-year-old politician alleged that elderly residents in care facilities had their ballots influenced by staff, asserting that the guiding of pens during voting was uncontested. He also criticized the storage of ballot papers in town halls where only mayors hold keys, pointing to an absence of camera monitoring and transparent oversight. Chrupalla stated that postal voting had originally been established as an exception and should be eliminated. At the same time, he rejected political firewalls against his party, inviting all parties, particularly the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), to cooperate following the upcoming vote in Saxony-Anhalt.

For the AfD it is clear that we believe mail voting, which was created as an exceptional situation, should be abolished again.

Climate stances and energy proposals

Chrupalla dismissed ongoing heatwaves as a regular seasonal occurrence, describing widespread concern over rising temperatures as panic-making and a climate hype designed to collect carbon levies. He maintained that human activity plays a minimal role in global warming, arguing that high electricity and gasoline prices harm citizens in an industrialized economy. Rather than cutting emissions, Chrupalla called for adaptation measures, specifically installing air conditioning in schools, hospitals, and elderly care homes. He urged increased power output to run cooling systems and opposed clearing forest land for wind power installations, which typically occupy 0.5 hectares of non-renaturable clearing compared to 0.7 hectares for a standard football pitch.

Discrepancies with weather and health records

Official data from meteorological and health bodies contradict the assertions regarding summer conditions. The Robert Koch Institute recorded more than 14,000 heat-related deaths in Germany in the first seven months of 2026, surpassing the total from any previous full year. The German Weather Service reported below-average precipitation across nearly the entire country since March, with regions from the Palatinate and Rhenish Hesse to Lower Franconia recording under 150 liters of rainfall per square meter. Data from the EU Copernicus Climate Change Service showed Western Europe averaging 21.62 degrees Celsius in June and July, which is 2.79 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 reference mean. In Germany, June recorded an average temperature of 19.5 degrees Celsius, ranking as the second-warmest June on record.

Party leadership on past extremism and migration

During the broadcast, Chrupalla addressed controversies surrounding AfD personnel, portraying past neo-Nazi affiliations of figures such as jurist Nothdurft as youthful sins and pointing to clean police clearance certificates. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel used her summer interview to criticize federal government officials, referring to cabinet ministers as incompetent. Weidel called for the revocation of protection status for all Syrian migrants residing in Germany and demanded their comprehensive repatriation. The party's public statements follow the August DeutschlandTrend survey, which placed the AfD at 28 percent voter support ahead of the CDU.

The Syrians will all be returned to their homeland.