‘Stark rejection’: How Germany’s far-right AfD won key election in the east
Al Jazeera
In a first for the far right since World War II, the party won the state of Thuringia, riding on lingering grievances from the past.
A far-right party’s stunning win in Germany’s regional elections over the weekend highlights a deepening divide between the country’s east and west, analysts say, reflecting eastern Germans’ frustration over feeling overlooked and dismissed by their western compatriots.
On Sunday, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) won elections in the eastern state of Thuringia with 32.8 percent of the vote, a first for a far-right party since World War II. It performed strongly in neighbouring Saxony too, trailing just behind the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The three parties composing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition – the Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals – all took a heavy beating, falling to single digits in both states.
The vote follows a trend in European countries where anti-establishment movements, well versed in social media dissemination and led by strong communicators, are increasingly appealing to voters dissatisfied with centrist parties. Yet the results in Germany also point to specific fissures within Europe’s largest economy, experts said: The AfD has managed to tap into historical grievances stemming from the perceived failure of Berlin to address social and economic inequalities faced by the east after the fall of communism and the country’s reunification.
“This vote for many eastern voters represents the starkest rejection of being considered second-class citizens,” said Rafael Loss, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
The perception is that the state has been neglecting the east, failing to invest enough there while not tackling issues such as immigration, social justice and crime. This, Loss said, was also enabled by Berlin’s failure in communicating effectively to voters in the east and a lack of representation of easterners in leadership positions – besides exceptions such as former Chancellor Angela Merkel – in the central government and in major companies.
