The far-right Alternative for Germany was expected to secure a strong victory in a regional election on Sunday, but it was not immediately clear whether it would achieve its goal of forming the country’s first far-right state government since World War II.
The party of the unpopular leader of Germany, Federal Chancellor Friedrich MerzA catastrophic result was predicted for the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The anti-migrant and pro-Russia alternative for the German gubernatorial candidate said: “We have made history.”
35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund told ARD that voters had sent a signal that “things cannot continue like this” and that it was “also a signal towards Berlin.” About Germany’s unpopular leader, he said: “A very good campaigner for us in this election campaign was Friedrich Merz. Every day that this man sits in the Chancellery is one too many.”
The AfD wanted to govern alone
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) went into the vote and aimed for an absolute majority in the state parliament in order to be able to govern alone. That would overcome the so-called firewall The mainstream parties’ refusal to work with the AfD was unclear, but long after the polls closed it was unclear whether this would happen.
A first state government would be the biggest prize in the anti-migrant party’s 13-year history, at a time of widespread dissatisfaction with a national government that has yet to convince voters that it can win a majority of the country sluggish economy move.
Regardless of whether the AfD can form a government or not, the predicted result is a blow to Merz, whose center-right party has led Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years. In contrast to other European countries, modern Germany does not yet have a right-wing extremist or right-wing populist party at the head of a federal, state or major city government.
AfD is that largest opposition party in the German national parliament and is strongest in the formerly communist and less prosperous east, where Saxony-Anhalt is located.
Their regional group in Saxony-Anhalt is one of several that is classified by the domestic secret service as a demonstrably right-wing extremist group, which indicates, among other things, the denigration of migrants from Muslim countries by its members.
The party speaks of “remigration,” a politically explosive term for the deportation of immigrants. Its leader in a neighboring state appealed two beliefs for knowingly using a Nazi slogan.
The AfD vehemently rejects accusations of extremism and describes them as politically motivated.
Big decline for the German leader’s party
Projections by public television ARD and ZDF, based on election polls and partial counting, suggest the AfD will win just over 44% of the vote, more than double the number five years ago in the region of 2.1 million people west of Berlin.
This put it well ahead of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, which achieved 18% in the polls and lost around half of its support. The Left Party, the center-left Social Democrats and the Greens each got around 9%.
It was unclear whether the BSW party would receive the 5% of votes needed to win the seat. According to the forecasts, the AfD is at least just short of an absolute majority, but that could change.
AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel described the forecast result as “sensational” and said: “We have received a very clear government mandate here.” The party’s hand is “stretched out to everyone who wants to make Saxony-Anhalt better and move Germany forward,” she said.
The visibly disappointed acting state governor Sven Schulze congratulated the AfD on becoming the strongest political force in the country and said that “we as the CDU also have to come to terms with this result,” but without specifying how.
Franziska Hoppermann, the federal general secretary of Merz’s party, rejected the idea of withdrawing her refusal to negotiate with the AfD.
“The AfD is a right-wing extremist party. It wants to leave the euro, that would mean economic decline… It works closely with Russia, it wants a completely different social model,” she said. “We will not work with them.”
There has already been a case in which the AfD won a state election but did not govern. That was two years ago Neighboring country Thuringiawhere a CDU governor took power with a minority government, but against a regional AfD that fell well short of the majority.
If Schulze were to try to form some kind of alliance with smaller parties based on the result, that would be tricky because that would require at least some tacit support from the Left Party, a radical left-wing party with which the CDU does not want to enter into coalitions.
The German states have extensive powers
The 16 German federal states have extensive powers, for example in monitoring security issues and controlling the education system.
Siegmund’s top priorities include “a deportation offensive” and reducing incentives for people to come to Germany and “exploit our social system.” He wants to initiate a lengthy process for Saxony-Anhalt to withdraw from public state broadcasting and justifies this with concerns about “disinformation”.
The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt wants to enable home schooling, which is currently not permitted in Germany. It promises to ban schools from officially flying the rainbow flag and ensure that they fly the national flag. She opposes taxpayer money being “given away” to Ukraine and says she would push for sanctions against Russia to be lifted, but that is not up to state governments to decide.
The state governments also sit in the German upper house of parliament, which must approve some government laws. The influence of Saxony-Anhalt, one of the smaller states in a country with 83.5 inhabitants, is limited there – it controls four of the 69 votes.