German eurosceptics surge in local elections

Germany’s eurosceptic Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is heading for double-digit support in two eastern state elections yesterday, scarcely a year after it was established.

After a strong results in the Europeans elections, and in Saxony two weeks ago, the AfD is now represented in three eastern states. The party scored 10 per cent in the central state of Thuringia, according to exit polls, and 12 per cent in Brandenburg, surrounding Berlin.

“We are delighted that citizens have voted for political renewal,” said Prof Bernd Lucke, saying the results put “wind in our sails” to move beyond being a euro crisis protest party. “We want solid budgets, orderly immigration, family- friendly policies of social market economy and economic sense.”

The party’s winning regional strategy focused on social issues – schools, childcare and crime – with carefully calibrated East German-friendly remarks.

Earlier this month Prof Lucke, addressing the issue of crime in Brandenburg on the Polish border, said that “even people who don’t want the GDR back say interior security was better in the east than in the west”.

Yesterday's results indicate the AfD picking up support from across the political spectrum and not just from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In Brandenburg, for instance, the post-communist Left Party lost over eight per cent, while in Thuringia the Social Democrats (SPD) dropped more than 6 per cent, finishing with a record low of just 12.4 per cent.

“The AfD is not a party right of the CDU,” said Armin Laschet, a deputy CDU leader. “We won support while the SPD and Left lost votes.”

The party mopped up support from the liberal Free Democratic Party. After being dumped out of the Bundestag last year, the one-time Merkel coalition partner remains in freefall after failing to make it into either state parliaments yesterday.