Tragedy strikes Far-Right AfD as six candidates die ahead of German local election

Six candidates from Germany’s far-right AfD party have died in recent weeks ahead of local elections in North Rhine Westphalia. Police have said there is no suggestion of foul play behind the deaths. The news has led to speculation and rumours among AfD supporters on social media, as reported by The Independent.

Over 20,000 candidates are running for office in the election, which will be held on 14 September in North Rhine Westphalia, a state with a population of 18 million. Retired economist Stefan Homburg claimed in a post on X that so many deaths among candidates were “statistically almost impossible”.

AfD election deaths spark social media debate

AfD’s national co-leader Alice Weidel retweeted Homburg’s post. Billionaire Elon Musk, who supports AfD, reacted to the post with an exclamation mark. The state’s interior ministry pointed out that candidates from other parties have also died in the weeks before the vote, as stated in the report by The Independent.


AfD’s co-leader in North Rhine Westphalia, Kay Gottschalk, admitted the rumours on Tuesday but said the information available did not support suspicions. Gottschalk told Politico’s Berlin Playbook Podcast that AfD wanted investigations but must avoid conspiracy theories and respect the families of the dead candidates.

German police and spy agency monitor AfD

German police told the DPA news agency that the deaths were from natural causes or were not being revealed due to privacy. AfD has become Germany’s main opposition party, winning 20.8% of the vote in the February general election. In May, Germany’s domestic spy agency labelled AfD “extremist” in a 1,100-page report, which allows secret surveillance such as informants and communication monitoring.

A top AfD member, Björn Höcke, was convicted for using a Nazi slogan at an event last year. In June, another agency report said the number of right-wing extremists in AfD grew 77% in 2025, reaching about 20,000 members. Because of the candidate deaths, ballots had to be redrawn and reprinted, and some postal voters will need to cast their votes again, as mentioned in the report by The Independent.

FAQs

Q1. Why did six AfD candidates die before the German election?
Police said the deaths of the six AfD candidates were due to natural causes or private reasons, not foul play.

Q2. When is the local election in North Rhine Westphalia?
The local election in North Rhine Westphalia will be held on 14 September 2025 with more than 20,000 candidates running.