Berlin. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) was on track to become the first far-right party to win a regional election in Germany since World War II on Sunday, according to projections, but was almost certain to be shut out by rival parties.
The AfD is expected to win 33.1 percent of the vote in the state of Thuringia, ahead of the conservatives’ 24.3 percent, according to projections by broadcaster ZDF. In the neighbouring state of Saxony, the conservatives were in the lead with 31.9 percent, around half a percentage point ahead of the AfD.
With one year to go before the German national election, the results look like a punishment for the coalition of Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz. All three parties lost votes, and their junior partners, the Greens and the Free Democrats, were on the verge of missing the 5 percent threshold needed to remain in parliament.
The final week of the campaign was overshadowed by the murder of three people at a festival in the city of Solingen in a knife attack, allegedly carried out by an illegal Syrian citizen who had not been deported by the authorities. The anti-immigration AfD may have gained momentum in the wake of the tragedy.
“This is a requiem for the coalition,” said AfD co-leader Alice Weidel. “The coalition should ask itself whether it can continue to govern.”
The left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which like the AfD wants less immigration and an end to the arms trade in Ukraine, came third in both states just eight months after its founding.
“That has never happened in the history of Germany,” said Wagenknecht, a former communist for whom the party is named.
With all parties ruling out working with the AfD, the BSW could be crucial to forming a stable government in the two states, which lag behind western Germany economically more than three decades after reunification.
The disastrous result for Scholz’s coalition could further fuel conflict within an already fractious coalition in Berlin as the three parties seek to assert their identity ahead of national elections next year.
For Weidel, his party’s strong showing in both states is proof that it is no longer possible to keep his party out of power.
“Voters want the AfD in government,” he said. “Without us, a stable government is not possible.”
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– 2024-09-01 22:02:47
