The far-right Alternative for Germany party won a regional election in the east of the country for the first time on Sunday, and is expected to finish at least a close second behind traditional conservatives in a second vote, according to projections.
A new party founded by a prominent leftist also had an immediate impact, while the parties of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular national government performed extremely poorly.
Projections by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, based on exit polls and a partial count, showed Alternative for Germany winning 32 to 33 percent of the vote in Thuringia, far ahead of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, the main national opposition party, with around 24 percent.
In neighboring Saxony, projections put support for the CDU, which has ruled the state since German reunification in 1990, at 31.5-31.8 percent and for the AfD at 30.7-31.4 percent.
“An openly far-right party has become the most powerful force in a state parliament for the first time since 1949, which raises deep concerns and fears among many people,” said Omid Nouripour, a leader of the Greens, one of the ruling parties at the national level.
Christian Mang / REUTERS
Other parties say they will not allow the AfD to take power by joining it in a coalition. Even so, its strength is likely to make it extremely difficult to form new regional governments, forcing other parties to form exotic new coalitions. The new Sahra Wagenknecht, or BSW, alliance won up to 16 percent of the vote in Thuringia and 12 percent in Saxony, adding another layer of complication.
“This is a historic success for us,” Alice Weidel, co-national chairwoman of the AfD, told ARD. She called the result a “requiem” for Scholz’s coalition.
CDU national general secretary Carsten Linnemann said: “Voters in both states knew that we would not form a coalition with the AfD, and that will remain so – we are very, very clear about that.”
Weidel denounced this as “pure ignorance” and said that “voters want the AfD to be in government.”
Deep discontent with a national government known for its infighting, anti-immigration sentiment and skepticism about German military aid to Ukraine are among the factors that have contributed to support for populist parties in the region, which is less prosperous than West Germany.
The AfD is particularly active in the formerly communist eastern regions. German intelligence officially monitors the party’s branches in Saxony and Thuringia, which are considered to be proven right-wing extremist groups. Its leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, was convicted of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at political events, but he has appealed.
Höcke bristled when an ARD journalist brought up the secret service’s assessment. He replied: “Please stop stigmatizing me. We are the number one party in Thuringia. You don’t want to classify a third of Thuringian voters as right-wing extremists.”
He said he felt “great, great pride” in Sunday’s result for his party, founded 11 years ago, and that “old parties should show humility”.
Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats are expected to at least retain their seats in both state assemblies with single-digit support, but the ecologist Greens are expected to lose their seats in Thuringia. Both parties were junior coalition partners in both outgoing state governments. The third party in the national government, the business-friendly Free Democrats, also lost its seats in Thuringia. It had no representation in Saxony.
The third regional election will take place on September 22 in another eastern state, Brandenburg, currently led by Scholz’s party. The next national elections will take place in just over a year.
Christian Mang / REUTERS
Politics in Thuringia are particularly complicated because the Left Party of incumbent governor Bodo Ramelow has fallen into electoral disuse. It has lost almost two-thirds of its vote compared to five years ago, falling to around 12 percent.
Sahra Wagenknecht, one of the party’s best-known figures, left last year to found her own party, which is now ahead of the Left. Wagenknecht has hailed the party’s success, stressed her refusal to collaborate with Höcke of the AfD and said she hoped it could form “a good government” with the CDU.
The CDU has long refused to cooperate with the Left Party, which emerged from the communists in power in East Germany. It does not rule out cooperation with Wagenknecht’s BSW, which will probably be necessary to form a government without the AfD, at least in Thuringia. The BSW is also at its peak in the East.
The AfD has been able to exploit the strong anti-immigration sentiment in the region. August 23 knife attack In the western city of Solingen, where a suspected Syrian extremist is accused of killing three people, the issue has returned to the top of the German political agenda and prompted Scholz’s government to announce new restrictions on knives and new measures to ease deportations.
Wagenknecht’s BSW combines left-wing economic policy with an anti-immigration agenda. The CDU has also stepped up pressure on the federal government to take a tougher stance on immigration.
Germany’s position on Russia’s War in Ukraine The issue of nuclear weapons is also sensitive in the East. Berlin is Ukraine’s second largest arms supplier after the United States. These arms deliveries are something that both the AfD and the BSW oppose. Wagenknecht also criticized the recent decision by the German government and the United States to begin deploying long-range missiles in Germany in 2026.
