one far right The party won state elections for the first time in post-World War II Germany in the country’s east on Sunday and is expected to narrowly trail mainstream conservatives in a second vote.
one a new political party founded by a prominent leftist also had a strong influence, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party unpopular national government Extremely weak results were obtained.
far right German alternativeThe Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 32.8% of the vote in Thuringia, well ahead of the main national opposition centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)’s 23.6%.
In neighboring Saxony, forecasts from ARD and Germany’s ZDF public broadcaster put the CDU at 31.9 percent and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 31.9 percent since reunification in 1990. The rate is 30.6-30.7%. Compared with the last state election in 2019, the AfD made huge gains in the smaller states of Thuringia and Saxony.
“For the first time since 1949, an openly right-wing extremist party has become the most powerful force in state parliament, causing deep concern and fear for many people,” said Green Party leader Omid Nouripour. )explain.
Other parties have said they will not join a coalition to bring the AfD to power. Even so, its strength could make it extremely difficult to form new state governments, forcing other parties to form bizarre new coalitions. new Sahrawagenkneich UnionOr BSW received 15.8% of the vote in Thuringia and almost 12% in Saxony, which adds another layer of complexity.
“This is a historic success for us,” AfD national co-leader Alice Weidel told ARD. She described the outcome as a “Requiem” for the Scholz Alliance.
CDU national secretary-general Carsten Linnemann said: “Voters in both states know that we will not be in alliance with the AfD and that this will continue – and we are very, very concerned about this. clear.
Wedel denounced this as “sheer ignorance” and said “voters want the AfD in government”.
Deeply dissatisfied with a national government notorious for internal strife, anti-immigration sentiment Doubts about German military aid to Ukraine are one of the factors gaining support for populist parties in the region, which is less prosperous than in western Germany.
The AfD is strongest in the former communist east, while domestically intelligence agency The party’s branches in Saxony and Thuringia are both considered “confirmed right-wing extremist” groups and are subject to official surveillance. Its leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, have been convicted The use of Nazi slogans at political events is deliberate but attractive.
When the ARD interviewer mentioned the intelligence agency’s assessment, Hock became furious, responding: “Please stop insulting me. We are the largest party in Thuringia. You don’t want to classify a third of Thuringia’s voters as Right-wing extremists”.
He said he was “very, very proud” of Sunday’s election results and that his party was 11 years old and “old parties should show humility”.
Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats remained in both state parliaments with at least single-digit support, but the environmentalist Greens lost seats in Thuringia. Both parties were junior coalition partners in the outgoing state government. The third party in the national government, the pro-business Free Democrats, also lost seats in Thuringia. It does not yet have a representative office in Saxony.
On September 22, another eastern state, Brandenburg, will hold its third state election, currently led by Scholz’s party. German next national election It is expected to expire in just over a year.
Politics in Thuringia are particularly complex because left wing party Outgoing governor Bodo Ramelow has sunk into irrelevance in national elections. Its approval rating has dropped by more than half compared with five years ago, to 13.1%.
Sahra Wagenknecht, long one of the party’s best-known figures, left last year to form her own party, which is now outperforming the left. Wagenknecht celebrated the party’s success, highlighted its refusal to cooperate with the AfD’s Houck, and said she hoped the party could form “a good government” with the CDU.
The CDU has long refused to cooperate with the Left Party, the descendant of East Germany’s ruling Communist Party. It does not rule out cooperation with BSW in Wagenknecht, which is also strongest in the east. But the result meant the CDU was unable to form a coalition with a majority in the Thuringian state legislature without the left party.
The AfD has taken advantage of high anti-immigration sentiment in the area. August 23 Knife attack In the western city of Solingen Suspected extremist A man from Syria has been accused of killing three people, putting the issue back at the top of Germany’s political agenda and prompting Scholz’s government to announce new restrictions on knives and new measures to ease deportations.
Wagenknecht’s BSW combines left-wing economic policies with an immigration-sceptic agenda. The CDU has also increased pressure on the central government A tougher attitude About immigration.
Germany’s position Russia’s war in Ukraine It’s also a sensitive issue in the east. Berlin is the second largest city in Ukraine weapons supplier Second only to the United States; these arms deliveries are opposed by both the Alternative for Germany and the Socialist Party of Germany. Wagenknecht also expressed his disapproval of the recent decisions by the German government and the United States to begin the deployment long range missile Heading to Germany in 2026.
