Germany's right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is expected to win its first election since being founded in 2013, with anti-migration sentiment driving voters to the polls.
Exit polls on Sunday showed the AfD winning in Thuringia with 33.5% of the vote and Saxony with 31.5%. Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats received less than 8% of the vote in both states, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The election follows a trend of victories for conservative groups across Europe in recent months. French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron's government narrowly prevented conservatives from taking control of the French parliament earlier this year.
Analysts say the ultimate influence that politicians from the AfD and other parties can have will depend on whether centrists are willing to work with them.
German right-wing candidate stabbed in latest attack ahead of elections
DRESDEN, GERMANY – AUGUST 29: A skinhead supporter of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party waves a German flag and provokes left-wing anti-fascist protesters after an AfD Saxony state election rally ahead of the state elections in Dresden, Germany, August 29, 2024. The AfD is currently leading opinion polls in both Saxony and Thuringia ahead of state elections scheduled for Sunday in both states. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
“The center-right will decide how much of a turning point an AfD victory will be. So far, they have been more consistent in ruling out cooperation than other Western European countries,” Mannes Weiskircher, a political scientist at the Dresden University of Technology, told The Wall Street Journal.
Germany's elections this weekend come just days after a Syrian migrant went on a stabbing rampage in Solingen, Germany, killing three people, with ISIS claiming responsibility for the attack shortly after.
Emergency services and police have been dispatched to the area near the scene where three people were killed and injured in an attack at a festival in Solingen, western Germany, the German news agency DPA reported on Friday. (Gianni Gattus/dpa via The Associated Press)
Germany's federal prosecutors identified the suspect as Issa al-H., withholding his surname due to German privacy laws.
German terror attack suspect identified as Syrian refugee, chancellor vows to implement strict immigration controls
ISIS said the attackers targeted Christians “to take revenge on Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
Der Spiegel magazine, citing unidentified security sources, reported that the suspect planned to move to Germany in late 2022 and seek asylum.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing growing right-wing sentiment across the country. (John McDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
Similar attacks by Muslim migrants across Europe have fuelled anti-immigrant sentiment, with even left-wing Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling for tougher immigration laws and increased deportations in the wake of the attacks.
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“We must do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot or are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” Scholz said during a visit to the scene of the stabbing.
“This is terrorism. This is terrorism against all of us,” he said.
Fox News' Sarah Rumpf Whitten contributed to this report.
