Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has proposed Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Manuel Hagel as candidate for minister-president of Baden-Württemberg in a tactical move designed to test the cohesion of the new Green-CDU coalition, only for Hagel to reject the nomination on the spot.
The proposal was put forward in the Stuttgart state parliament on May 13, 2026. Hagel stated he would not stand and pledged that his party would close ranks behind Cem Özdemir, the Greens’ candidate agreed under the coalition deal signed two days earlier.
“There is a responsibility that is greater than oneself, and games are not played with German Christian Democracy and with this parliament,” Hagel told the chamber, according to news agency dpa.
The AfD’s parliamentary business manager Miguel Klauß defended the move by stating: “The citizens of Baden-Württemberg voted centre-right.” Klauß argued the result of the regional election justified a right-of-centre government rather than a renewed coalition with the Greens.
Under the rules of procedure of the Baden-Württemberg Landtag, Hagel was unable to formally withdraw his name once nominated, so the secret ballot proceeded with two candidates. Özdemir was elected minister-president, though at least 19 MPs from the governing parties refused to back him.
The Green-CDU bloc, known in Germany as Grün-Schwarz or Green-Black, holds 112 seats in the Landtag, with 79 required for a majority. Özdemir, a former federal agriculture minister, succeeds Winfried Kretschmann, who had led the state for 15 years.
Hagel, who has often said he would not so much as share an espresso with AfD representatives, was sworn in shortly afterwards as interior minister and deputy minister-president of the new administration. He had already ruled out being elected with AfD support on election night, saying: “It is out of the question for me to be elected as minister-president with AfD votes, even if the mathematical possibility exists.”
The manoeuvre echoes a well-established AfD tactic in other German states. In Thuringia in 2020, the AfD voted unexpectedly for Free Democratic Party (FDP) candidate Thomas Kemmerich, who was elected minister-president with AfD support and resigned days later, triggering a national political crisis. Similar moves have been attempted in Saxony.
Political observers said the Stuttgart vote was designed to expose divisions within the CDU. With CDU MPs forced to choose in a secret ballot between Özdemir and their own party leader, AfD strategists hoped to encourage defections and weaken the coalition before it had begun work.
The episode comes as the AfD continues to lead opinion polls in several eastern German states and runs second nationally, deepening tensions over the so-called Brandmauer firewall that the CDU has maintained against any cooperation with the right-wing party.
