Brady Knox – Washington Examiner
Seven Alternative für Deutschland politicians died within two weeks of each other before local elections, prompting party leaders to hint at foul play.
Five direct AfD candidates and two reserve candidates in North Rhine-Westphalia died within 14 days of each other, according to Welt.
Wolfgang Seitz’s death at 59 was announced on Aug. 21; the city of Blomberg announced the “unfortunate death” of 66-year-old Ralph Lange on Aug. 27; the city of Bad Lippspringe said 59-year-old Stefan Berendes “died unexpectedly” on Aug. 28; and the city of Schwerte announced that Wolfgang Klinger, 71, died “unexpectedly” on Aug. 19, according to Newsweek. Kay Gottschalk, deputy state chairman of the AfD’s North Rhine-Westphalia branch, confirmed the deaths of direct candidate Hans-Joachim Kind, 80, and reserve candidates René Herford and Patrick Tietze to Politico on Tuesday.
In a Tuesday interview with WELT TV, Gottschalk pushed back on speculation that foul play was afoot.
“We will, of course, investigate these cases with the necessary sensitivity and care,” he said, adding that there was “no indication” that the deaths were the result of “murder or anything similar.”
Gottschalk stressed that some of the dead “have pre-existing medical conditions.” He called for a careful investigation “without immediately getting into conspiracy theory territory.”
Police told DPA news agency that the first six deaths were either from natural causes or the cause wasn’t being divulged to preserve family privacy.
Despite his distancing from speculation of any possible nefarious demise, several AfD leaders openly called foul play.
AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel reposted a post from retired economist Stefan Homburg, who said the deaths were “statistically almost impossible.”
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