HESSE / THURINGEN On Sunday, one in four German voters will be able to state their political position when elections are held in the states of Bavaria and Hesse.
The number one election issue is immigration. More migrants are now arriving in Germany across the country’s eastern borders than at any time since 2015 and 2016. There are crises in the world more than before, and migration is increasing.
In the first half of the year, the number of asylum applications rose to 220,000, which is almost 80 percent more than at the same time last year. In addition, more than a million war refugees have come to the country from Ukraine, who do not need to apply for asylum.
Tent camps, hotels and unfit for living have sprung up in Germany halls is directed to the use of migrants. The municipalities no longer know where to accommodate the new arrivals. They require more federal support.
In recent weeks, there are also migrants smuggling Increased on the eastern borders of Germany.
Populist parties on the rise
Although the radical right-wing Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, is probably not yet the largest in Bavaria or Hesse, its support is growing.
AfD gathers votes primarily as an opponent of “illegal mass immigration”, as the party’s representatives themselves say. By “illegal” immigrants, the party means in practice those who have come from Africa, Syria or Iraq, for example, who have not been employed.
Especially in Bavaria, the support of another party dissatisfied with immigration, the Free Voters, is growing alongside the AfD. Free Voters is a right-wing populist party, especially favored by farmers.
– The political atmosphere has clearly changed in Germany over the past year, says the director of the INSA opinion research institute Hermann Binkert.
While the AfD has managed to more than double its support at the German level as a whole, the popularity of the Democrats, Greens and Liberals in the federal government is faltering.
– It can also be seen that even new parties will enter the field, says Binkert.
A charismatic left-wing leader Sahra Wagenknecht is believed to be founding a new party in the near future. Wagenknecht’s policies are in some places very close to AfD. He trying to attract votes from the AfD.
Wagenknecht is critical of the market economy, but his immigration positions are strict: Germans first.
In Sunday’s elections, the Christian Democratic parties in charge of Bavaria and Hesse, the CSU and CDU, may get their weakest results ever, even if they retain their dominant positions. Above all, AfD and Free Voters are worried about them.
The isolation of the AfD is annoying
Next year, regional elections will be held in the three eastern states of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, where the AfD has the potential to become the largest party. In East Germany, the party’s support is already over 30 percent.
This is the case, for example, in Thuringia’s Gera, Kuopio’s sister city.
The party’s voters are annoyed by the fact that other parties in Germany do not agree to cooperate with the party. For example, according to the official line of the Christian Democrats, no cooperation of any kind is allowed with the AfD.
– No one talks to the AfD, we are not taken care of as a partner. This firewall is just a defense mechanism of the old parties, an MP working in multiple roles in the AfD Wolfgang Lauerwald says at the party office in Gera.
He became active in the party after retiring from being a doctor.
– People expect cooperation from politics for the well-being of all citizens. They are stuffed up to their throats with this restriction policy and firewall.
First, close the borders
If the AfD came to power, it would be the first to close Germany’s borders.
– We want a government that pursues our interests and does not send tax money all over the world, says Lauerwald. For example, he considers supporting Ukraine “absurd” because it is not a German war. In his opinion, the war is only between Russia and Ukraine.
Gera’s population is shrinking and jobs are decreasing. Dissatisfaction is growing. In the city, every Monday there is a demonstration against immigration and the current rulers.
According to Lauerwald, there are two main reasons why citizens increasingly choose the AfD. In addition to “mass immigration”, many are upset by the “absurd energy policy”. The greening of politics makes me nervous.
The AfD would like to restore closer relations with Russia so that Germany can continue oil and gas trade with the country.
“Everything gets worse”
Lauerwald accuses the media of complicity with the government.
– Since the media are no longer as critical as they used to be, the politicians in power can continue their activities, says Lauerwald. In his opinion, criticism of the ruling parties flows like water off a goose’s back with the help of the media, and critics are not taken seriously in the press.
For example, climate measures and “forcing” citizens into heating renovations work against the interests of Germans, according to Lauerwald.
Germany aims to get rid of fossil fuels by mandating the installation of, for example, heat pumps instead of oil heating. This results in large costs for some single-family residents.
– People are doing worse all the time. Schools are doing worse, elderly poverty is increasing, prices are rising and people can no longer afford anything like before. Jobs are at risk, many industries are suffering due to the corona restrictions, companies are paying more for their energy than before, crime is increasing, there are not enough apartments, Lauerwald lists.
According to Lauerwald, the rise of the extreme right in East Germany is also influenced by history. People remember what it was like to live under a dictatorship.
Now many East Germans who vote for the AfD think they are living in a new dictatorship.
– People see what it was like then and what it is like now. There are similarities, Lauerwald claims.
“Extremist thinking weakens the country’s economy”
The increase in extremism will affect the German economy in the future, five research institutes stated at their joint press conference last week.
In Germany, until recently, it has been taken for granted that the basic rules of society are clear to everyone and that these rules will be respected in the future as well.
– The rules of the game include respecting other people, their property and their freedom of action. Now this is at risk, IHW head of economic research Oliver Holtemöller said in Berlin.
According to economists, it is not yet a current risk. But if, for example, the attitude towards foreigners living in the country worsens in the future, it can change the entire society.
You can discuss the topic until 11 pm on Saturday evening.