The victory of the far-right Alternative Party causes a political earthquake – DW – 06/26/2023

Sunday’s election result in a small district in the eastern German region of Thuringia caused a political earthquake and a flood of commentary on the media and social media.

Sonneberg’s election marked the first time that a candidate from the populist far-right Alternative Party (AfD) had been elected to head a government – albeit a small county of just 57,000 inhabitants. Robert Sesselman, 50, won the election after campaigning focused on national issues, including reducing immigration and ending military support for Ukraine.

No district manager has influence over such decisions, but jubilant AfD leaders hope the victory will lead to much greater political success. According to the latest polls, the AfD has realistic chances of becoming the strongest political force in three eastern German states in regional elections scheduled for 2024.

Voters are unfazed by the AfD scandals

All this despite the various scandals in which AfD politicians find themselves embroiled: mismanagement of party donations, evidence of links with hard-right extremists, and racist, defamatory hate speech. Thuringia’s voters seemed unfazed by the fact that many party figures made positive references to fascism and the National Socialist regime under Adolf Hitler – in many cases violating the German constitution.

Why is the AfD rising in the polls?

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The AfD appears to be scoring points among voters on two policy positions in particular: opposition to immigration and climate protection. For years, fomenting xenophobic and anti-Muslim sentiment has been a focus of the AfD’s political campaign.

“The underlying narrative of the AfD has always been that there is a threat to German culture. For a long time, this has come from abroad, through immigrants,” political analyst Johannes Helge told Tazz. “The narrative now is that this threat also comes from within, through society’s shift to climate neutrality – a project central to Berlin’s center-left coalition and the Green Party.”

The AfD is the only real opposition

The centre-left National Government, a coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), has been fraught with internal strife over its capacity.

Policies, nuclear energy, taxation and budget. For passing laws in times of international crisis, they had some support from the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its regional sister party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), as well as the Socialist Left Party.

Only the AfD, the outsiders on the far right of the German political spectrum, accepted any of the government’s policies, and were thus able to present themselves as the only real opposition. Nor have they ever had to prove themselves capable of taking charge and running any government – in part because all their political opponents have so far excluded any alliances with them.

Meanwhile, the German population was increasingly concerned by the war in Ukraine, high energy prices and inflation. Helge said the federal government had not succeeded in assuaging the fears but had allowed the AfD to exploit them. A long-running dispute over a program to phase out fossil-fuel heating systems has morphed into what Helgi calls “a stimulus program for right-wing populists.”

But many blame the CDU/CSU bloc for the AfD’s success. Some analysts said the CDU president, Frederik Merz, was replicating far-right rhetoric by taking a populist stance on refugees, LGBT rights and climate protection. For many, this is a blunt attempt to win back voters from the AfD, but they also warn that this will backfire, as voters generally prefer to vote for the original rather than the imitation.

Follow Trump’s rules of play

Germany is currently undergoing a development that reminds observers of the United States: there, despite many lies and scandals, former President Donald Trump remains a defining political force.

Like Trump in the US, the AfD portrays itself as the only alternative to the political establishment and as the voice of the people suppressed by the government in Berlin and the mainstream media.

German intelligence classifies the Alternative for Germany youth wing as ‘extremist’

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The domestic intelligence service, as well as the Central Council of Jews and Muslim Muslim Associations, see the AfD as a threat to democracy and have warned of the AfD’s links to anti-constitutional organizations and its increasingly influential ultra-nationalist wing.

After its election success in Thuringia, the AfD also received open support from the neo-Nazi camp. Prominent far-right activist Michael Brock congratulated the party on his Telegram channel, before issuing a grim warning to the newly elected AfD district leader: “There can be no false indulgence in the administration’s essential clean-up.”

This article was originally written in German.

While you’re here: Every Tuesday, the DW editors round up what’s happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for our weekly Berlin Briefing email newsletter.

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