The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a third of the votes in two states in eastern Germany on Sunday. The inhabitants of Thuringia and Saxony are beginning to take stock of the results.
While the extreme right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) celebrated its historic victory, hundreds of people marched through the streets of Erfurt last night and several shed tears because it is the first time a training far-right wins a state election from Nazi Germany.
Erfurt residents were too skeptical of the media to speak on camera, but told Euronews that their votes were a “last resort,” and that their main motivation to vote was the securityafter knife crimes, including that in Solingen, made headlines.
Even if AfD fails to form a coalition in Thuringiait seems clear that the other parties will begin to adopt stricter policies in an attempt to win back voters disenchanted.
The political scientist at the University of Jena, also located in Thuringia, Sven Leunig, affirms that the elections “have shown that Germany has somewhat normalized right-wing populistswhich are strong in the rest of Europe, and are also imposing themselves strongly” in the German country. “And it is not just about the AfD. The BSW (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance) also maintains populist positions that are quite similar in many aspects,” he adds.
Questions about possible coalitions
Reviewing the results, Leunig explains that in Thuringia none of the traditional parties has managed to secure an absolute majority or even a coalition majority. The main question remains whether the AfD can form a coalition with the party Alianza Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) or with the CDUwhich has already discarded a collaboration with a match of extreme right. Wagenknecht herself promised last night not to form a coalition with the AfD, led by the leader of the state of Thuringia, Bjorn Hoecke, who has been fined for using Nazi slogans.
“This means that the CDUas the second strongest party, must form a new alliance with Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) y you will also need the SPD. And even if the three of them join together, which is already unusual, there would be no stable majority because they only have 44 votes, but they need 45,” says Leunig.
“In Sajoniathe situation is a little differentbut also similar. The CDU has to form an alliance with BSW because the previous coalition partners are not enough,” he adds.
Growth of the influence of the far right and populist anti-immigration and anti-asylum discourse
Leipzig residents expressed their shock over the resultsafter the AfD came a close second behind the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU). But the main problem is that the BSWwhich was created earlier this yearsplitting from the left-wing party Die Linke, It only has a few members.
“If they want to govern, they need to appoint ministers, and those ministers have to come from somewhere. The only idea left is to appoint non-party ministers. But even then, they need personnel like secretaries of state, etc. So there are a large administrative apparatus that the BSW does not have at the moment. “Some speculate that the BSW’s demands, such as opposing arms shipments or new weapons, were made to ensure that they would not have to join the coalition,” Leunig says.
Although the AfD may not form a coalition, “their main influence lies in the possibility of push certain topics that differ from the position of the federal government and may put pressure on the ruling parties. Even the opposition could force political changes without being directly in the Government. This is similar to what the Greens did two decades ago. They were out of government for almost 20 years, but their constant focus on environmental issues forced other parties to adopt green policies to win back votes. “This is a similar situation,” adds Leunig.
The political scientist believes that “Asylum laws will be tightened and deportations will intensify. Of course, there are limits, because, for deportation, the receiving country must agree. If the deportee does not have identification, he cannot be accepted. And many countries do not want to accept their own nationals who have committed crimes,” he says, while being skeptical that the far-right will be able to manage more deportations, as the CDU and SPD have attempted over the past 16 years.
As for the big losers of the elections, Leunig says that the liberalsthe FDP, were the ones that obtained the worst results. “This is very evident and can only be said to be a direct result of his policies in Berlinparticularly their negative and blocking tactics. They always tried to impose their own positions or block the success of others, which led to this fractured image. “We can only hope that the FDP learns the right lesson and decides to work with the coalition rather than against it.”
