"Six candidates for Germany’s far-right AfD party die in lead up to election"

Six candidates for Germany’s far-right AfD party have died in recent weeks ahead of local elections in the large western state of North Rhine Westphalia.

Police have said there is no suggestion of foul play at hand in the deaths, which have caused speculation among the party’s supporters on social media.

More than 20,000 candidates will run for office in the election on 14 September across the state, which has a population of 18 million.

Despite the police ruling out suspicious circumstances, retired economist Stefan Homburg claimed in a post on X that the number of candidates' deaths was "statistically almost impossible”. His post was later retweeted by the AfD’s co-leader Alice Weidel, while AfD supporter and billionaire Elon Musk responded to the tweet with an exclamation mark...

The German domestic spy agency declared the party as “extremist” in May, which it based on a 1,100-page report. It was a move that has now allowed the agency to use secret methods to monitor the party, which include recruiting confidential informants and intercepting communications.