East Germany embraces the extremes as Scholz’s ruling coalition destroyed in state elections

“Weakening the economy, dividing society and ruining our country’s reputation”, is how Germany’s downtrodden Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, chose to describe the impact of the hard-right party which defeated his ruling coalition in yesterday’s east German state elections.

A powerless protest party no longer, Germany’s AfD is now poised to govern Thuringia, potentially becoming the first such party to lead a German state since the Second World War. Along with a strong first place at 32.8 per cent in Thuringia, the AfD also took a close second to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Saxony, dominating nearly every locale with the exception of Dresden. 

While primarily focused on halting migration, the AfD also seeks to immediately end aid to Ukraine, cease all climate initiatives, restrict abortion, and seek rapprochement with Putin. Scandals embroiling the AfD are so numerous that even Le Pen’s National Rally broke ranks with the party in the European Parliament.

Despite historic highs in national polling, a second place finish in the summer’s EU Parliamentary elections, and Sunday’s victory in the east, the party is despised by mainstream figures, institutions, and a lion’s share of the German public.

Earlier this year, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Germany’s largest protest movement in years in response to the leak of a secret meeting between the AfD and prominent identitarians – some would say neo-nazis – in which they strategised a “masterplan for remigration”. Their joint scheme reportedly advocates for the deportation of all migrants in addition to “non-assimilated” German citizens.

Since the remigration controversy, several more scandals have followed in recent months in which party members were suspected of spying for China, accused of receiving funds from Russia, and charged for using Nazi slogans in rallies.

Three German states have ruled in favour of surveilling the group on the grounds that it may be “extremist” and harbour anti-democratic intentions. Pressure is building to ban the party from politics entirely. Although perhaps unlikely for now, German law does permit the outlawing of parties which seek to undermine democracy and have the electoral potential to do so. The lesson of the democratic rise of Hitler’s NSDAP is not lost on its modern law. 

The AfD’s success isn’t the only striking element of yesterday’s election result. It also served as a major victory for another fringe party, the alternative to the alternative, “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” (BSW). Humbly named after its main figure, BSW had a strong showing in the summer EU elections, and shot up to third in Thuringia and Saxony on Sunday, beating all of the ruling coalition parties and the once formidable “Left” party that she used to head.

Wagenkneckt’s BSW formed just this year, after conflicts erupted between her and the far-left over wokism, immigration, and social issues. Her new party platform is distinctly uncategoriseable, emphasising strict migration controls, traditional family values, and an end to Ukraine aid alongside greater state resources for healthcare, education and the working poor. Leading some to decry it as communist, and others to label it far-right. 

Public sentiment towards mass migration has hardened significantly in recent years, and last week’s deadly Solingen attack by a Syrian migrant due for deportation reignited fury at the government’s ineffective asylum policies. 

BSW has thus offered Germans a more palatable alternative to the AfD. One which mimics the AfD’s hardline stance on immigration but isn’t stained by its unsavoury history. 

For now, the strength of the AfD and BSW remains heavily concentrated in the East, where wealth inequality persists 30+ years after reunification. The fringe parties are especially strong in east Germany’s most depopulated and deprived regions. 

While the AfD’s victory puts pressure on Germany’s centre right from its populist flank, the strong showing of the BSW also serves as a forewarning to Scholz’s struggling centre left. It’s not only voters on the right who are alienated by errant border policies.

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