It is an unprecedented victory for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. It won by a wide margin on Sunday, September 1, in the regional elections in Thuringia, in the east of the country, and is hot on the heels of the conservatives in Saxony, according to exit polls.
The test polls in these two regions of the former GDR, electoral strongholds of the extreme right, took place in a particularly tense context, more than a week after the triple knife murder attributed to a Syrian in Solingen, which shocked the country and rekindled a lively debate on immigration.
In Thuringia, one of the smallest German states where the far right is led by Björn Höcke, one of its most radical figures, the AfD is given a clear lead (30.5 to 33.5%), ahead of the conservatives of the CDU (24.5%), according to the first polls after the closing of the polls broadcast by public television stations ARD and ZDF. In Saxony, the conservatives of the CDU have a slight lead (31.5 to 32%), closely followed by the AfD (with 30 to 31.5%).
Sanction against the Scholz government
A newcomer, the BSW party of former far-left muse Sahra Wagenknecht, is making a spectacular breakthrough. It is credited with scores between 12 and 16% in both Länder, and could pose as a kingmaker in the future formation of regional governments. The AfD’s victory in Thuringia is a first in the country since the post-war period, even if it is unlikely that the party will lead the region, since all the other parties refuse any coalition with it.
Both the AfD and the BSW have won over voters with their virulent anti-immigration rhetoric and calls for an end to arms deliveries to Ukraine, a position that is very popular in these regions of the former communist GDR where the fear of war remains deeply rooted.
The first results also confirm a new major setback for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government with the Greens and the FDP liberals, one year before the 2025 legislative elections. His Social Democratic Party (SPD), already at a low level during the previous term, recorded a score of between 6.5 and 8.5%. The Greens themselves are leaving the Thuringian parliament, and the FDP liberals would no longer be represented in any of the regional assemblies. These Länder, which have important prerogatives in the German system in terms of education or security, could be governed by broad, heterogeneous alliances associating right and left.