Last Monday, Germany woke up to a new morning. For the first time since the end of World War II, an extreme right-wing party, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)—Alternative for Germany—won the majority of votes in the elections held in the eastern German state of Thuringia. Moreover, the same party came in second place in the elections held in the state of Saxony, which is also in eastern Germany.
And if that’s not enough, another party that emerged at the beginning of the year and is named after a controversial communist politician with a populist agenda managed to gain a large number of votes. This party, presenting a platform that is both extreme right and left and promoting a cult of personality, has become an essential player, without which it would be impossible to establish “stable” coalitions in both states.
Although the proper democratic procedure would have required the largest party to be given the task of forming the government, in the case of the state of Thuringia, the “firewall,” or the refusal of all the other parties to cooperate with the AfD, will send the party into the opposition (where it can influence political procedures such as the dissolution of the parliament or the holding of elections). It should be noted that elections to be held at the end of the month in the state of Brandenburg will likely produce similar results.
Compared to the two parties above, which together have obtained over 40% of the votes, the three parties of the federal coalition (Social Democrats, the Greens, and the Left Party) have suffered a stinging defeat (with the Greens not even passing the election threshold). In doing so, the voters in both states sent an unequivocal message of their dissatisfaction with Chancellor Scholz’s government on a series of issues highlighted during the election campaigns (immigration, internal security, energy, inflation, and the war in Ukraine, to which the people of eastern Germany don’t support providing continued aid).
In the year remaining until the federal elections (September 2025), the government will try to learn from the downfall that took place (primarily on immigration and internal security) in the hope that the three coalition parties will improve their electoral situation.
The election results aren’t the outcome of a local fault that can be fixed in a short period of time. The reasons for the results are many, some rooted in the history of eastern Germany and others in the multi-systemic crisis that Germany has faced in recent years, as well as the difficulty of German democracy (like other Western democracies) to deal with them (and especially to achieve short-term results). In this way, they provide a fertile ground for populism and extremism (mainly from the right) afflicting Europe (and the United States). The end of this murky wave is still not yet in sight.
Last Monday, Germany woke up to a new morning. For the first time since the end of World War II, an extreme right-wing party, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)—Alternative for Germany—won the majority of votes in the elections held in the eastern German state of Thuringia. Moreover, the same party came in second place in the elections held in the state of Saxony, which is also in eastern Germany.
And if that’s not enough, another party that emerged at the beginning of the year and is named after a controversial communist politician with a populist agenda managed to gain a large number of votes. This party, presenting a platform that is both extreme right and left and promoting a cult of personality, has become an essential player, without which it would be impossible to establish “stable” coalitions in both states.
Although the proper democratic procedure would have required the largest party to be given the task of forming the government, in the case of the state of Thuringia, the “firewall,” or the refusal of all the other parties to cooperate with the AfD, will send the party into the opposition (where it can influence political procedures such as the dissolution of the parliament or the holding of elections). It should be noted that elections to be held at the end of the month in the state of Brandenburg will likely produce similar results.
Compared to the two parties above, which together have obtained over 40% of the votes, the three parties of the federal coalition (Social Democrats, the Greens, and the Left Party) have suffered a stinging defeat (with the Greens not even passing the election threshold). In doing so, the voters in both states sent an unequivocal message of their dissatisfaction with Chancellor Scholz’s government on a series of issues highlighted during the election campaigns (immigration, internal security, energy, inflation, and the war in Ukraine, to which the people of eastern Germany don’t support providing continued aid).
In the year remaining until the federal elections (September 2025), the government will try to learn from the downfall that took place (primarily on immigration and internal security) in the hope that the three coalition parties will improve their electoral situation.
The election results aren’t the outcome of a local fault that can be fixed in a short period of time. The reasons for the results are many, some rooted in the history of eastern Germany and others in the multi-systemic crisis that Germany has faced in recent years, as well as the difficulty of German democracy (like other Western democracies) to deal with them (and especially to achieve short-term results). In this way, they provide a fertile ground for populism and extremism (mainly from the right) afflicting Europe (and the United States). The end of this murky wave is still not yet in sight.