Editorials

The Irish Times view on the German regional elections: the centre gets squeezed

The far-right AfD party, which had a political coup at the weekend, is already reshaping key government agendas, not least on immigration

Co-leaders of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP
Co-leaders of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla at a press conference in Berlin on Monday. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP
Mon Sept 02 2024 - 20:00

The weekend elections in the eastern German states of Thuringia and Saxony, particularly the resounding votes for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and for a new far-left party, have brought exaggerated talk of both a revival of the extremist German politics of the 1930s and of the seeming failure, 34 years on, of reunification.

In that time 3.7 million easterners moved to west Germany, leaving a resentful ageing population, who feel neglected and all too ready to blame immigrants and the establishment for their woes.

A sense of proportion is necessary. The elections represent only 7 per cent of Germany’s total electorate, and its democracy remains robust. While the votes reflect an alarming electoral squeeze of the centre by extremist populist forces, particularly in the east, there is no prospect of the far-right taking power. AfD remains a minority, and no one will govern with it.

The anti-immigrant party, whose leaders have flirted with the minimising of the Nazis’ historical crimes, has pulled off a political coup: for the first time in post-War history a far-right party has won a state poll. In Thuringia, with 32.8 per cent of the vote, it outpolled the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) by nine percentage points. In Saxony the AfD scored 30.6 per cent, just behind the CDU. And the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a hard-left breakaway party, won 15.8 per cent and 11.8 per cent respectively.

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Both parties are far weaker in the west where they will not replicate such successes in next year’s general election, and the traditional centre parties retain significant bases in the east. The CDU came out on top in Saxony and is strong in Saxony-Anhalt, while the governing social democratic SPD still dominates in Brandenburg – the next electoral test – and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

More worrying, however, than the AfD’s electoral results over the weekend is the reality that the party is already successfully reshaping key government agendas, not least on immigration, but also in inhibiting arms sales to Ukraine.