Far-right win German state election for the first time

Far-right populists, Alternative for Germany (AfD), have won the election in the former East German state of Thuringia.

German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, called it a “bitter” result.

It is a huge psychological blow for many Germans who flinch at AfD’s far-right overtones.

AfD’s leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, was fined earlier this year for parroting a Nazi slogan. The party has also been accused of close links with Putin’s Russia and allegations of spying for China. But none of that seems to have prevented electoral success.

Although centrist parties are likely to club together to keep AfD out of office in Thuringia, there is a chance that AfD could agree an unholy alliance with recently formed far-left populists, BSW.

Although BSW is at the other end of the political spectrum, the two parties share a Eurosceptic, anti-immigration, populist stance. Both also advocate cutting off military aid to Ukraine.

Ahead of the election, BSW’s founder, Sahra Wagenknecht, ruled out working with AfD.

Even if they can be kept out of office, it’s feared AfD could paralyse the running of the state. With more than one-third of the seats in the Thuringia parliament, the party can exercise a blocking minority on constitutional issues like the appointment of new judges.

Björn Höcke came to blows with the judiciary during his recent court appearance, reportedly asking the judge, “do you want to ban the German language because the Nazis also spoke German?”

A central theme of the election was immigration. The centre-left federal government has been scrambling to sound tough on migrants after a Syrian asylum seeker stabbed people at a festival last month killing three and seriously injuring several others.

The government has announced a crackdown on knives at festivals and in other public spaces. Migrant benefits will be curtailed and the government has promised to speed up deportations of failed asylum seekers.

On Friday a group of Afghan nationals “all of whom were convicted criminals” was sent back to Afghanistan, the first time Germany has returned people there since the Taliban regained control. The German government said “security interests clearly outweigh the interest in protecting criminals and dangerous individuals.”

The last minute shift to the right in asylum policy was not enough to avoid the election result many had been fearing. Chancellor Scholz was only relieved last night that his centre-left SPD managed to retain at least some seats in Thuringia. His coalition partners, Greens and FDP, lost all their seats.

Höcke said the people have voted “no to a multi-cultural Thuringia and Germany.”

In the neighbouring state of Saxony, where a state election was also held, AfD was narrowly pushed into second place by the centre-right, CDU. German radio this morning reported that the final result could see AfD just short of a blocking majority there.

A third election is due to be held in the state of Brandenburg in a few weeks time. The government will be steeling itself against another likely defeat with the federal election just a year away.