Right-wing and populist parties have decimated traditional left-wing parties in two German state elections, even though a “software error” supposedly altered the initial official results in one state, snatching two seats from the right.
The right-wing populist, anti-mass immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) won its first state election in the east German state of Thuringia with 32.8% of the vote. Votes continued to pour in in AfD's favor in the evening, widening its lead from an earlier announcement. As a result, the party won 32 seats in the Free State's 88-seat parliament (state parliament), far from an actual majority.
The party nearly achieved the same feat twice overnight, losing by just one seat to the traditional center-right Christian Democrats in the fellow east German state of Saxony in a photo finish. The two right-wing parties received slightly fewer seats than initially announced by election officials, but a computer error was blamed for the overnight loss. ApparentlyThe computer that calculates the number of seats each party receives based on the percentage of the vote was mistakenly programmed into the wrong electoral system.
This is especially significant for the AfD, because it no longer has a blocking minority in the states and could have blocked certain votes, such as the appointment of constitutional judges or state auditors, or even a vote to dissolve parliament. In such cases, a two-thirds supermajority is needed to pass, and the AfD is now one seat short.
Zara Wagenknecht, a left-wing populist leader opposed to mass immigration, attacked with red paint in Germanyhttps://t.co/ZZodo7YlMp
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 30, 2024
A new left-wing populist political force, the BSW, led by former Communist Sahra Wagenknecht, is also doing well but has received little attention in the press outside Germany, which is fixated entirely on the threat from the right. Economically far-left but socially conservative and opposed to mass immigration, the party came in third in both states and could become a kingmaker.
Turnout in both elections reached historic highs, with Saxony seeing the highest state election turnout in modern German history. It was the AfD's best state election result to date, but the Free Democrats and Social Democrats' worst ever results in an electoral campaign, and a devastating result for traditional left-leaning and center parties.
In Thuringia, the Green Party's support has dropped so much that it no longer has any MPs, and the far-left Linke party has fallen from 29 seats to 12.
In many cases, the international media's reaction to the AfD's state-level victories in these elections has been one of disappointment, even as the label “far-right” has been routinely applied to the AfD, a term that has lost its force through overuse. A reference to Nazi Germany It happens frequently. Guardian The article begins with a comment from Valérie Heyer, a liberal French politician, reflecting on the election results: “A dark day for Germany is a dark day for Europe too. The election results in Thuringia and Saxony are unprecedented. Europe must not succumb to a campaign of racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny and homophobia.”
Anti-Mass Immigration Parties Make Great Gains in German State Electionshttps://t.co/8ThMWe4mYR
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 1, 2024
For the AfD itself, yesterday's vote in favour showed that Germans have rejected the stagnation of insensitive and failed establishment parties. Reported German Newspapers Die WeltAfD co-leader Alice Weidel hailed the election as “historic” and said a series of defeats in local elections had seriously undermined the central government's authority and that the time had come to call new general elections in Berlin to choose a new leader.
“Chancellor Olaf Scholz should accept the result, pack his bags and vacate his seat together with his coalition partners,” she said.
This analysis was shared to some extent by a spokesman for the left-wing populist party Zahra Wagenknecht, which is against mass immigration, who reflected on the results saying: “What helps the AfD the most is bad government”.
As is now common in many European elections, the populist right party may win the most seats but will be far from a majority and have few friends to form a coalition with, which may lead these countries to turn to yet another rainbow coalition to thwart border controls at all costs. Although the AfD and BSW agree on almost everything that matters, the Wagenknecht leadership scornfully rejected the AfD offer this morning, closing off any avenues for a populist grand coalition.
The centre-right conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), formerly led by open-borders advocate Angela Merkel, has also completely rejected cooperation with the AfD and declared itself a “firewall” against rival parties, prompting AfD officials to accuse it of trying to negate the results by shutting out Thuringia's largest party.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vows (again) to toughen knife laws and step up deportations after fatal stabbinghttps://t.co/x1KPpIkqa7
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 26, 2024
