German far-Right to win first state election since Nazi era

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Germany’s far-Right party is on course to win an election in a state parliament for the first time since the Nazi era.
Exit polls predicted the anti-immigration AfD gained some 33 per cent of the vote in Thuringia, with the mainstream conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) party polling at around 23 per cent.
The CDU, however, ruled out a coalition on Sunday evening, meaning the AfD was locked out of power.
In a further blow, the AfD appeared to be narrowly losing to the CDU, Angela Merkel’s former party, in the state of Saxony where it was projected to make a breakthrough.
Omid Nouripour, Green leader, described the Thuringia result as a “breaking point” and that ethnic and sexual minorities are “simply afraid” that “an openly Right-wing extremist party” will be the largest party in a state parliament.
The Thuringian AfD has been ruled as “definitely Right-wing extremist” by the German domestic intelligence.
The AfD has twice as many votes as the three parties of chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling traffic-light coalition combined, and is likely to have a third of seats in both parliaments, giving it the ability to block constitutional changes and the appointment of state functionaries.
News magazine Der Spiegel has called the AfD “the dominant force in eastern Germany”, noting that it could also win the upcoming election in neighbouring Brandenburg in three weeks’ time.
Voices calling to dissolve the national government and for new elections will grow louder after this result, with Wolfgang Kubicki, Free Democrat deputy leader, saying that the election result shows that the coalition has “lost its legitimacy”.
“If a significant portion of the electorate refuses to support it in this way, there must be consequences,” he warned.
Björn Höcke, the AfD’s state leader in Thuringia, has said it is ready to take government and that it is “a tradition that the strongest party starts coalition talks”.
He declared the results “a clear vote against business as usual, we need changes and there will only be changes with the AfD”.
He called on other parties to end the “stupid firewall excuses”, referring to the so-called “firewall” that keeps the far-Right out of government.
Bodo Ramelow, Thuringia’s outgoing Left party first minister, said “I am fighting against the normalisation of fascism” and that he wants to “do everything to ensure that the AfD never has the potential to blackmail the democratic majority in parliament”. Thuringia was the first state in which the Nazis won an election in the 1930s.
The surprise winner is the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, having only formed earlier this year among dissident Left-wingers who want to reduce migration and stop German support for Ukraine.
The party came in third place in both elections, achieving a double-digit result in its first state elections and could act as kingmakers and replace the Greens in government in Saxony, an upset for Germany’s previously stable party system. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance has replaced the Left party that it split from across much of eastern Germany.
Sahra Wagenknecht has said she would only enter coalitions that impact German foreign policy, rejecting the weapons bases and planned stationing of US medium-range missiles in Germany and further arms deliveries to Ukraine. 
“Of course there must be a position on these issues in the coalition agreement,” she said, adding that any state coalition must advocate against these issues on a federal level, making this a difficult agreement for the CDU or any governing parties to enter into.
The Greens may have lost all their seats in both state parliaments coming under the 5 per cent minimum hurdle as voters express dissatisfaction with Olaf Scholz’s coalition. The Social Democrat, Green and Free Democrat parties of the three-way coalition got 6.5 per cent, 4 per cent and 1 per cent in Thuringia, respectively, down from 8.2 per cent, 5.2 per cent and 5 per cent in 2019.
Kevin Kühnert, the SPD general secretary, has admitted “a lot needs to be changed” but maintains that “fighting is worth it. We are needed. There are also people who want our politics” with Scholz’s party making small gains in Saxony.
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The AfD party has likely secured a blocking minority in Thuringia after predictions it secured some 33.5 per cent of the vote.
The Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) are also likely to miss the five per cent hurdle to secure entry to state parliament, helping to ensure AfD receives a third of the seats.
If a party has more than a third of seats it can block certain decisions that require a two-thirds majority.
Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), has said that the success of AfD and BSW in the state elections is very likely to lead to an exodus of companies and skilled workers.
Meanwhile, the Central Association of German Skilled Crafts (ZDH) said the elections signalled a “clear warning sign” for the country.
Germany’s AfD party is on course to become the strongest far-Right party in a German state parliament since the Nazi era.
In Thuringia, exit polls predict the anti-immigration party has gained some 33.5 per cent of the vote in Thuringia, with the conservative CDU party polling at around 23.4 per cent.
The Social Democrat, Green and Free Democrat parties of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition got 6.5%, 4% and 1% in Thuringia respectively down from 8.2%, 5.2% and 5% in 2019.
In Saxony, the AfD is projected to very narrowly lose to the CDU, with about 31.4 per cent of the vote to the CDU’s 31.7 per cent.
BSW follows in second with 11.5 per cent in front of SDP with 7.5 per cent.
THÜRINGEN | 18 Uhr Prognose Landtagswahl Forschungsgruppe Wahlen/ZDFAfD: 33,5% (+10,1)CDU: 24,5% (+2,8)BSW: 14,5% (NEU)LINKE: 11,5% (-19,5)SPD: 6,5% (-1,7)GRÜNE: 4,0% (-1,2)FDP: 1,0% (-4,0)Sonstige: 4,5% (-1,0)Änderungen zu 2019#ltwth pic.twitter.com/LwdDwsBrhM
According to the exit polls, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) was the strongest force amongst young voters in Saxony.
It received 31 percent of the vote among 18 to 24-year-olds. The centre-right CDU party trailed behind with 17 per cent in this age category, followed by the Left Party with 11 per cent and BSW with 10 per cent.
The preliminary results showed large increases for both the far-Right AfD and the far-Left BSW in the eastern German state, while the Greens suffered heavy losses.
BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht is aiming for a coalition with the centre-right CDU party along with the Social Democrats following the state elections in Thuringia.
“We very much hope that we can form a good government together with the CDU in the end – probably also with the SPD,” Ms Wagenknecht told German media. “I hope that works,” she added.
Other parties’ refusal to work with the AfD potentially leaves BSW as the kingmaker in Thuringia and Saxony, despite serious policy disagreements with potential partners, especially over aid to Ukraine.
Katrin Göring-Eckardt, vice-president of the Bundestag and Green party politician, has called the success of AfD in the Thuringia a “democratic turning point in this country”. 
“For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic, a right-wing extremist, anti-democratic party, the Höcke-AfD, is the strongest force in a state parliament,” she wrote on X.
“I am very worried. Not about my party – we will pull ourselves together, we will come back! But about the country. There is a risk of setbacks for nature and the climate, for the economy and for a free, diverse society.”
Die Wahl in Thüringen ist eine demokratische Zäsur in diesem Land. Erstmals in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik ist mit der Höcke-AfD eine rechtsextremistische, demokratiefeindliche Partei stärkste Kraft in einem Landesparlament.
In the states of Thuringia and Saxony, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats are polling at around six percent, while their coalition partners, the Greens and the liberal FDP, lag even further behind.
The results represent a major blow to Mr Scholz’s already weak tripartite coalition government.
According to early projections, the Greens and the FDP appear to have both crashed out of the state parliament after failing to secure the five per cent threshold necessary to gain seats.
Germany’s conservative party has ruled out a coalition with AfD following the far-Right party’s success in two eastern German state elections.
Carsten Linnemann, general secretary of CDU, the main opposition party at national level, said his party will stick to its longstanding refusal to work with AfD in both Thuringia and Saxony. “We are very, very clear about that,” he said.
Alice Weidel, the national co-leader of AfD, denounced the decision not to form a coalition as “pure ignorance” and said that “voters want AfD to participate in a government”.
“This is a historic success for us,” Alice Weidel, a national co-leader of AfD, told German broadcaster ARD, following the exit poll results of former East German state of Thuringia.
She described the result, that shows AfD on course to win its first regional election, as a “requiem” for Chancellor Scholz’s coalition.
Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) has banned journalists from attending its results party on Sunday as the far-Right party looks set to win a state election for the first time.
A ruling by the Regional Court of Erfurt on Saturday stated that the AfD must allow media companies into its results party.
But it now appears to have closed the party to the entire public, thus excluding journalists, German media reports.
AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla has said his party could join government following the vote results.
“If we are ahead, then that means a very clear mandate to government,” he told German daily Bild. “Reality is much further ahead than the officials. This will also happen at the state level.”
Saxony’s prime minister has described Sunday’s state election as “probably the most important election in 34 years”. 
Michael Kretschmer, who is part of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), also described the election as “fateful” as he cast his vote in Dresden.
He has been prime minister in the region since 2017.
Sunday’s elections in Thuringia and Saxony have been set against the backdrop of a heated debate centring around immigration. 
The contests come just over a week after three people were killed in a suspected Islamist knife attack in the city of Solingen.
The man suspected of carrying out the knife attack is a Syrian who had applied for asylum, according to German police.
Meanwhile, Germany’s ruling coalition on Thursday announced a series of tougher migration measures as polls suggested AfD would take around 30% of the vote.
A man wearing an AfD t-shirt allegedly threatened a polling station manager in Gera on Sunday after being asked to take the clothing off before casting his vote.
“We quickly identified the suspect and conducted a threat assessment at his address,” Thuringia police said in a statement. 
“Criminal proceedings are now underway against him for threatening behavior. The election process was not jeopardized by the incident.”
Germans are casting their votes in two eastern German states this Sunday – Saxony and Thuringia – to elect their MPs. 
Voters in a third eastern state, Brandenburg, will go to polls on Sept 22, while the next national election will take place in 2025.
It is expected to be a bruising night for Olaf Scholz and his coalition government, with the AfD forecast to win in Thuringia.
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