The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is described as right-wing populist to far-right, won the state elections in the eastern German state of Thuringia. In Saxony, which borders the Czech Republic, the AfD finished a close second behind the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of current state prime minister Michael Kretschmer. In both cases, the party won over 30 percent of the vote. For the parties of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s pan-German government coalition, the election ended in debacle.
Dresden/Erfurt
18:04 1. 9. 2024 (Updated: 22:00 01/09/2024)
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The AfD is expected to win Sunday’s regional elections in Thuringia. | Photo: Karina Hessland | Source: Reuters
This follows from the forecasts published by the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF on Sunday after the polling stations closed. The first interim results do not differ much from the estimates. If the forecasts are confirmed, it will be the first time since World War II that a far-right party has won a regional election.
In Thuringia, according to the AfD forecast, it won 30.5 percent of the vote, while the second CDU was significantly behind – it won 24.5 percent. In Saxony, the difference between first and second place is significantly smaller: according to the forecast, the CDU won 31.5 percent of the vote, the AfD 30 percent.
Saxon Prime Minister Kretschmer (CDU) called the estimate of the results “a reason for celebration”, according to him it is also a message to the ruling parties in Berlin that people are disappointed with their policies.
The conservative union CDU/CSU is in opposition in the Bundestag. The leader of Thuringia’s Christian Democrats, Mario Voigt, said that despite the second place, his party should form the state government. Voigt refused to cooperate with the AfD.
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AfD leader in Thuringia Björn Höcke called his party’s result a “historic victory” and said he was ready to take on the government’s responsibilities. Höcke is one of the most controversial faces of the party and belongs to its nationalist wing. A trained history teacher was repeatedly fined by the court for using the Nazi slogan All for Germany.
In the past, Höcke, for example, demanded a 180-degree change in approach to German history. AfD co-chair Alice Weidel called the estimate of the election result in Saxony and Thuringia a requiem for Scholz’s government.
The AfD is in the crosshairs of the federal counterintelligence because of its far-right activities. The Thuringian and Saxon secret services even label it as a party with proven extremist efforts.
In both of the so-called new federal states that were created after the demise of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the new left-wing protest party Sahra Wagenknecht’s Alliance (BSW), which broke away from the post-communist Left, came in third. It only became a party in January.
In Thuringia, she received an estimated 16 percent of the vote, in Saxony 12 percent. Since most of the established parties refuse to cooperate with the AfD, the BSW could get into both state governments. BSW co-chair and founder Wagenknecht said in her first speech after the forecasts were published that BSW “wrote history” in this election.
BSW combines left-wing economic policy and immigration-skeptic politics. He also criticizes anti-Russian sanctions and calls for negotiations with Russia to achieve peace in Ukraine, which Moscow invaded two and a half years ago.
Government debacle
Sunday’s state elections ended in fiasco for the parties of the pan-German government. Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), which won the federal election in 2021, are now forecast to win just 8.5 percent of the vote in Saxony, seven percent in Thuringia. According to the DPA agency, the result of the Social Democrats in Thuringia is the worst result in a state election since the foundation of the federal republic in 1949.
The Greens did not get into the Thuringian Diet at all, in Saxony they apparently crossed the five percent threshold by only half a percentage point. The third formation of Scholz’s coalition government – the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) – did not make it into any of the state parliaments.
However, the collapse of the government in Berlin is not expected because of this. Regular German elections will be held next September. According to polls, the parties of the governing coalition would now receive 29 to 34 percent of the vote. In 2021, it was 52 percent.
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SPD co-chairwoman Saskia Eskenová called on her fellow party member Scholz to promote more social democratic themes in the government. According to her, “constant quarrels” within the coalition are also to blame for the poor result of the governing parties.
This was also admitted by the co-chairman of the Greens, Omid Nouripour. The chairman of the FDP wrote on the X network that the results of the elections in Saxony and Thuringia are painful, but according to him, the party is not giving up the fight for liberal values.
In Thuringia, according to forecasts, the Left of the current state prime minister, Bod Ramelow, made it to the state assembly. But she won only 12.5 percent of the vote. In 2019, it was still 31 percent. In Saxony, the Left did not cross the five percent threshold.
Land government negotiations can be challenging. According to the forecast, the coalition of the CDU, SPD and the Greens could continue in Saxony. A CDU, BSW and SPD government could form in Thuringia. The other parties rule out cooperation with the AfD.
According to the German media, the election campaign did not focus on regional issues, it was dominated by the opposition’s attempt to exploit dissatisfaction with Chancellor Scholz’s federal government. At the meetings, the war in Ukraine, expensive energy, crime and migration were often discussed.
The debate on the last of the topics was heated by the terrorist attack in Solingen, in which a week ago, a young Syrian murdered three people and injured eight others. The 26-year-old attacker is an unsuccessful asylum seeker who was not able to be deported.
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