German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on mainstream political parties to distance themselves from “right-wing extremists” following preliminary results that placed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) at the top in a state election. Meanwhile, a new populist movement on the left has gained significant ground in Germany’s political landscape.
In two closely observed elections in the former East Germany, voters expressed their dissatisfaction with the country’s traditional political parties. The AfD emerged as the leading party in Thuringia with 32.8% of the vote and secured second place in Saxony with 30.6%, according to early results.
Scholz described the outcome as “bitter” and “concerning”.
“Our country must not and cannot become accustomed to this. The AfD is harming Germany, weakening our economy, dividing our society, and tarnishing our country’s image,” Scholz said. He also noted that the worst-case scenario—his center-left Social Democrats (SPD) being ousted from a state parliament for the first time—did not occur.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, declared it a “historic success” for the party, stating, “It is the first time we have become the strongest force in a state election. It marks the end for this coalition [in Berlin].”
The AfD, established 11 years ago, achieved its first mayoral and district council positions last year, but has not yet entered a state government. The other democratic parties have pledged to maintain a “firewall” against cooperating with the AfD to keep it out of power.
The results in Saxony and Thuringia were particularly disastrous for the three ruling parties in Scholz’s center-left-led federal government, each of which received only single-digit percentages of the vote in both states, one year before Germany’s next general election.
Although the outcome was predicted for months, the centrist parties failed to counter the trend, causing a major upheaval in the political arena. Voter turnout was high in both states, around 74%.
The left-leaning but socially conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), named after its outspoken leader, gained traction with its calls for increased taxes on the wealthy, stricter immigration and asylum policies, and an end to military support for Ukraine, resonating strongly in the east.
With no party winning an absolute majority, the newly formed BSW, which garnered 11.8% in Saxony and 15.8% in Thuringia, could play a crucial role in government formation talks in both states, based on provisional results.
Wagenknecht stated it was “the first time in the history of the republic” that a party performed so well in state elections on its initial attempt. “That is something to be proud of,” she remarked.
The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), currently leading in national polls, appeared set to win in Saxony, as it did five years ago, with about 32% of the vote. This result is seen as a boost for its national leader, Friedrich Merz, who aims to challenge Scholz in the upcoming national election.
In Thuringia, the CDU came second behind the AfD with 23.6% and may be able to form an ideologically diverse ruling coalition with smaller parties, including Wagenknecht’s.
Merz has stated that the CDU will never collaborate with extremists but has shifted the party further to the right, especially in its stance on immigration, since Angela Merkel left office in 2021.
Many voters in the east have grown increasingly disillusioned with mainstream politics more than 30 years after reunification, citing ongoing issues like economic decline, population loss, and a perceived second-class status.
“The AfD has established a solid base [in the east] that now supports it out of conviction, not just frustration with the other parties,” said Prof. André Brodocz, a political scientist at the University of Erfurt in Thuringia.
The AfD’s campaign in the final week focused on the message that the government is “failing” its citizens, while exploiting outrage over a deadly mass stabbing in Solingen, allegedly committed by a Syrian whose asylum application had been rejected.
The party, whose branches in Saxony and Thuringia have been labeled right-wing extremist by security agencies, is projected to come out on top in Brandenburg, a rural state around Berlin, which will vote on September 22, according to polls.
Björn Höcke, the AfD’s co-leader in Thuringia, has repeatedly used prohibited Nazi slogans at rallies and called for a reversal in Germany’s approach to Holocaust remembrance and atonement.
His objective was to secure a blocking minority of one-third of the votes in Thuringia, where the Nazis first took control of a German state government in 1930 before consolidating power in Berlin three years later. Final results, expected early Monday, will determine if he achieved this goal.
At a rally in Erfurt days before the election, Höcke told a supportive crowd that he and the AfD were the only ones standing against the “cartel parties” seeking to “replace the German people” with a “multicultural society” under a “totalitarian dictatorship”.
Given the fragmented results from voters, forming a coalition government in both states could prove challenging.
The rise of the BSW has been described as a “game changer” by Brodocz, emphasizing the rejection of established political parties while providing frustrated eastern voters with an alternative to the AfD, which many view as too extreme.
Wagenknecht, already preparing for the 2025 federal elections, has indicated she would set high demands for joining any coalition, calling for “diplomacy” with Russia and criticizing a recent decision to allow the US to deploy long-range missiles in Germany from 2026.
Scholz’s coalition of the center-left Social Democrats, the Greens, and the liberal Free Democrats was already on the defensive, and each party had reasons to be concerned about Sunday’s election outcomes.
Divided by ideological differences and personal rivalries, the government has struggled in recent months to implement key policies, such as reviving the sluggish economy and increasing the number of electric vehicles on German roads. The Greens’ co-leader, Omid Nouripour, recently referred to the coalition in Berlin as a “transitional government” following Merkel’s 16-year tenure.
On Sunday, Nouripour gave a candid assessment of the election results, stating that the far-right’s surge “causes deep concern and fear among many people.”
