AfD set for historic win in Germany’s regional elections

AfD projected to lead Thuringia with 33.1%, Conservatives at 24.3% as Scholz’s coalition suffers wide vote losses

BERLIN:

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) was set to become the first far-right party to win a regional election in Germany since World War Two, based on projections from Sunday, though other parties were expected to block it from gaining power. The AfD was projected to secure 33.1% of the vote in Thuringia, ahead of the conservative party's 24.3%, according to broadcaster ZDF. In neighbouring Saxony, the conservatives were leading with 31.9%, just slightly ahead of the AfD.

The results dealt a blow to Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition, with all three of its parties losing votes. The Greens and Free Democrats, who are junior partners in the coalition, were close to missing the 5% vote threshold required to remain in parliament. The final week of the campaign was marked by the fatal stabbing of three people at a festival in Solingen, allegedly by a Syrian national living illegally in the country, which may have given the AfD's anti-immigration stance further momentum.

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, described the results as a "requiem for the coalition" and questioned whether the government could continue. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a left-wing populist party founded only eight months ago, came third in both states, with its anti-immigration stance and opposition to arming Ukraine.

Despite the AfD's success, all major parties had ruled out cooperating with them, leaving the BSW as a potential key player in forming a stable government. The results further strain Scholz's already fragile coalition as parties try to distinguish themselves ahead of the national election in a year's time.

Weidel argued that the AfD's strong showing in Thuringia and Saxony demonstrated the public's desire for the party to be part of the government, insisting that a stable administration would not be possible without them. Thuringia's premier, Bodo Ramelow, whose Left party performed poorly despite his personal popularity, called for democratic parties to unite against the normalisation of fascism.