The German far-right, led by its most radical figure, recorded another strong advance in a regional poll on Sunday, which also confirms the decline of traditional government parties like that of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Anti-migrant and eurosceptic movement
According to the estimates of the public television channels, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is with between 23% and 24% coming in second place during the regional election in Thuringia, in the former East Germany Communist Party, more than doubling its score from the previous election in 2014, and ahead of the Chancellor's Conservatives (CDU). The latter lose more than 10 points, with only around 22%, in this Land they once dominated without sharing. This is their worst score ever in this region since German reunification in 1990.
This score is all the more noteworthy for the anti-migrant and Eurosceptic movement, the AfD, which was achieved despite criticism targeting this party after the recent anti-Semitic and xenophobic attack that killed two people, committed by an activist. neo-Nazi in Halle, in the neighboring regional state of Saxony-Anhalt. The leader of the AfD in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, figurehead of the most right wing of the movement, was accused of having prepared the ideological ground for the acts of Halle, where a massacre in a Synagogue was narrowly avoided by its statements against the German culture of repentance for Nazi crimes. For example, he described the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as a monument of shame.
The extreme right is progressing in the former GDR
The election of Thuringia, a regional state of two million inhabitants, confirms the continuous progress of the far right in each ballot since 2015, mainly in the former GDR. Already in September, the AfD had overtaken in the East the 20% mark in two elections, in Saxony and Brandenburg. It is weakest in the west of the country. In Thuringia, the current head of the regional government, Bodo Ramelow, a member of the radical left, came in first, with around 30% of the vote, according to television, a higher score than he had registered five years earlier. This former trade unionist has built his success on his local roots and a very pragmatic policy, where he does not hesitate to focus on topics dear to conservatives, such as security, and to move away from the most radical slogans of his party in Berlin .
However, it will be difficult for him to stay in power because his two current coalition partners, the SPD Social Democrats and environmentalists, have fallen sharply, to around 8% and 5.5%, respectively, and are no longer able to support him. provide a majority. And at the same time, the conservative party refuses to govern with both the radical left and the extreme right. This could block any major coalition formation.
Angela Merkel weakened
For the CDU and the Social Democrats, this vote is yet another disappointment likely to further weaken the federal government of Angela Merkel, where these two formations are coalition partners but are increasingly dissatisfied, as most recently on Syria and Turkey. This retreat is a disaster for the SPD in particular, which fights for its survival at the national level and must decide in December which course it chooses, along with its future president: stay in the coalition or not. Supporters of an exit could be reinforced.