‘Extremist’ far-Right in shock German poll win
THE far-Right Alternative for Germany won a state election for the first time yesterday – in the country’s east.
And it was set to finish at least a very close second to Conservatives in a second vote, projections showed.
A new party founded by a prominent leftist also made an immediate impact, while the parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular national coalition government did poorly.
Projections based on exit polls and partial counting showed Alternative for Germany winning 32-33% of the vote in Thuringia – well ahead of the centre-Right Christian Democratic Union, the main national opposition party, with about 24%. In neighbouring
Saxony, projections put support for the CDU, which has led the state since German reunification in 1990, at 31.5-31.8% and the AfD on 30.7-31.4%.
Omid Nouripour, a leader of the Greens, one of the national governing parties, said: “An openly Right-wing extremist party has become the strongest force in a state parliament for the first time since 1949, and that causes many people very deep concern and fear.”
Other parties say that they will not put AfD in power by joining it in a coalition. But its strength is likely
to make it very difficult to form new state governments, forcing other parties into exotic new coalitions.
The new populist Left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, took up to 16% of the vote in Thuringia and 12% in Saxony, adding another level of complication.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said: “This is a historic success for us,” and described the result as a “requiem” for Mr Scholz’s coalition.
The CDU’s general secretary, Carsten Linnemann, said “voters in both states knew we
wouldn’t form a coalition with AfD, and it will stay that way – we are very clear on this.”
Deep discontent with the national government, antiimmigration sentiment and scepticism toward military aid for Ukraine are among the factors to contribute to support for populist parties in the region.
Convicted
Germany’s intelligence agency has the AfD’s branches in both Saxony and Thuringia under official surveillance as “proven Right-wing extremist” groups.
Its leader in Thuringia, Bjorn Hocke has been convicted of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at political events.