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one Far right The party won state elections in eastern Germany on Sunday, its first victory since World War II, and is expected to finish second behind the mainstream conservatives in the second round of voting.
one A new party founded by a prominent leftist also had a strong impact, and the party of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Unpopular Nationalist Government Very weak results were obtained.
Far right Germany’s choiceThe Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 32.8% of the vote in Thuringia, far ahead of the main national opposition party, the center-right Christian Demokratien Union, which received 23.6%.
In neighboring Saxony, projections from ARD and ZDF public television put the CDU, which has led the state since German reunification in 1990, at 31.9% and the AfD at 30.6-30.7%. The AfD made significant gains in the smaller states of Thuringia and Saxony compared with the last state election in 2019.
“The fact that an openly far-right party has become the most powerful force in the state parliament for the first time since 1949 is a source of deep concern and fear for many people,” said Omid Nouripour, leader of the Green Party, one of the country’s governing parties.
Other parties have said they would not bring the AfD to power by forming an alliance with it. Even so, the AfD’s strength could make it extremely difficult to form a new state government, forcing other parties to join a new coalition. Sahra Wagenknecht AllianceLabor’s 15.8 percent of the vote in Thuringia and nearly 12 percent in Saxony added another layer of complexity.
“This is a historic success for us,” Alice Weidel, the national co-leader of the AfD, told ARD, describing the result as a “requiem” for Schulz’s coalition.
“Voters in both states know that we will not form a coalition with the AfD and that this will remain the case – we are very, very clear about this,” said Carsten Linnemann, national secretary general of the Christian Democratic Union.
Weidel condemned this as “pure ignorance” and said “voters want the AfD to be in government.”
Deeply dissatisfied with the national government known for its internal strife, Anti-immigrant sentiment and suspicion of German military aid to Ukraine are among the factors driving support for populist parties in a region that is less prosperous than West Germany.
The AfD is strongest in the former communist east, but Intelligence agencies The party’s branches in Saxony and Thuringia are under official surveillance and are considered “confirmed far-right” groups. Björn Hoch, the party’s leader in Thuringia, Convicted The use of Nazi slogans in political campaigns is deliberate but appealing.
When the ARD interviewer mentioned the intelligence agencies’ assessment, Höch flew into a rage, responding: “Please stop smearing me. We are the largest party in Thuringia. You don’t want to classify a third of the voters in Thuringia as extreme right-wing.”
He said he was “very, very proud” of Sunday’s election results because the party had been around for 11 years and “old parties should show humility.”
Schulz’s center-left Social Democrats retained seats in both state parliaments by at least single-digit support, but the environmentalist Greens lost seats in Thuringia. Both parties were minor coalition partners in the outgoing two state governments. The third party in the national government, the pro-business Free Democrats, also lost seats in Thuringia. It no longer has representation in Saxony.
A third state election will be held on September 22 in Brandenburg, another eastern state currently led by Scholz’s party. Next national election It will expire in a little over a year.
Thuringia’s politics are particularly complex because Left Party Outgoing Gov. Bodo Rameiro has seen his vote fall to insignificance nationwide. His approval rating in the state has more than halved from five years ago, to 13.1 percent.
Sarah Wagenknecht, long one of the party’s best-known figures, left last year to form her own party, which is currently outperforming the Left Party. Wagenknecht celebrated her party’s success, stressing its refusal to work with AfD’s Houck and saying she hoped it could form “a good government” with the CDU.
The CDU has long refused to work with the Left Party, a descendant of East Germany’s ruling Communist Party. It has not ruled out cooperation with Wagenknecht’s Social Democratic Party of Germany, which is strongest in the east. But the election result means the CDU cannot form a coalition with a majority in Thuringia’s state legislature without the Left Party.
The German Alternative Party has used high Anti-immigrant sentiment The region. August 23 Knife attack In the western city of Solingen, Suspected extremists The case of a suspect from Syria accused of killing three people helped push the issue back to the top of Germany’s political agenda and prompted the Scholz government to announce new restrictions on knives and new measures to ease deportation woes.
Wagenknecht’s BSW combines left-wing economic policies with an immigration-skeptical agenda. The CDU has also stepped up pressure on the national government to A tougher stance About immigration issues.
Germany vs. Russia’s war in Ukraine It is also a sensitive issue in the east. Berlin is Ukraine’s second largest Weapons Supplier Following the US; these weapons deliveries are opposed by both the AfD and the BSW. Wagenknecht also slammed the German government and the United States for their recent decision to start deploying Long-range missiles Heading to Germany in 2026.
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