Populist anti-mass migration parties made significant gains in state elections in Germany on Sunday, with the right-wing Alternative for Germany projected to have secured a resounding victory in Thuringia.
Exit polls for the east German state of Thuringia have put the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) out on top, with a projected 30.5 per cent of the vote, beating out the neo-liberal centrist Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party formerly led by Chancellor Angela Merkel at 24.5 per cent.
Should the exit polls prove true, it would mark the first time that the AfD was the winner in a state election in Germany.
Separately, in the state of Saxony, the AfD is in a tight race for the top with the CDU, with exit polls projecting the centrist party to have won 31.5 per cent of the vote, compared to 30 per cent for the AfD, broadcaster DW reports.
However, given the slim divide between the two parties, it is still possible that the populist party may yet squeak out a victory in Saxony as well.
Hailing the success of her party, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said that her party should be involved in the state governments, pushing back against reported plans by other parties to band together to block the populists from entering government.
“Under normal circumstances, in order to stick to the customs in this country, the strongest party is exploring, and that is the AfD,” Weidel said referring to Thuringia. “The voters want the AfD to be involved in a government. We have 30 per cent of the voters in both federal states, and without us, a stable government is no longer possible.”
German Populist AfD Party Overtakes Chancellor Scholz’s Social Democrats in Support https://t.co/8CdqlvP3qt
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 15, 2023
Meanwhile, left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht’s eponymous party is projected to have cracked double digits in both states, currently forecast to have won 12.5 per cent in Thuringia and 12 per cent in Saxony. The good results for her upstart party, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), demonstrate the appeal of anti-mass migration policies on both the left and right-wing ends of German politics.
Sahra Wagenknecht, formerly of The Left party, formed her own party earlier this year after disagreements with her previous party members on issues such as lockdowns, vaccine mandates, the war in Ukraine, and mass migration. Arguing from a left-wing perspective Wagenknecht has criticised mass migration for undercutting the working class of Germany and draining state resources.
While many of her key policies are similar to those espoused by the AfD, Wagenknecht has so far ruled out partnering with the right-wing party, and this week accused the AfD’s lead candidate in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, of holding “Nazi ideology”.
The results for Wagenknecht’s upstart party will likely put her in a position to challenge more meaningfully in next year’s federal elections. Just a few months old, her party already surpassed the Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which are projected to have only managed to win 7 per cent of the vote in Thuringia and 8.5 per cent in Saxony.
Anti-Mass Migration Leftist Populist Leader Sahra Wagenknecht Attacked with Red Paint in Germanyhttps://t.co/ZZodo7YlMp
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 30, 2024