16 German politicians die right before local elections, triggering conspiracy theories. 'Statistically almost impossible'

Conspiracy theories around local German elections took off after 16 politicians who were due to stand in the polls scheduled for September 14, suddenly died. The candidates were supposed to stand for the local elections in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. However, 16 of them passed away one after the other, according to the election director. Wild conspiracy theories started doing the rounds in the country after the shocking deaths. Of the candidates who passed away, seven were from the AfD party, while one person each was from the SPD, the Social and Democratic Alternative (SDA), the FDP, the Greens, the Animal Welfare Party, the Independent Voters' Association (UWG), the Free Voters, the Referendum Party, and a voter group. Speculations about the sudden death started circulating on social media after four members of the AfD party died. Later, the number increased to seven.

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The AfD party has grown in popularity ever since it was formed in 2013. The police have found no signs of foul play in the first four deaths. Meanwhile, the rest of the deaths are being probed. Conspiracy theories got a boost after the party's co-leader, Alice Weidel, presented data by an economist, according to whom it is almost impossible for 16 candidates to die one after the other. She shared a claim by retired economist Stefan Homburg, who pointed to the number of deaths, and said it was "statistically almost impossible".

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Four AfD candidates died first, then more deaths were reported

Meanwhile, the sudden deaths have affected the election process since the time between nominations and elections is quite long. Four AfD candidates died — Ralph Lange, Wolfgang Klinger, Wolfgang Seitz and Stefan Berendes — were the first to pass away, after which the ballots had to be reprinted. Soon it was revealed that AfD reserve list candidates, René Herford and Patrick Tietze, had also died. The state's interior ministry then reported that candidates from other parties have also died. This included the Greens and Social Democrats politicians. North Rhine-Westphalia has a population of 18 million, and 20,000 candidates are reportedly running for office.

The police investigated the first four deaths and did not find anything suspicious. Detectives told Germany's DPA news agency that they were all due to some natural causes, which haven't been revealed by the families. The same is being said for the other deaths.