Elections in the eastern German states of Saxony and Thuringia have once again confirmed the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
According to exit polls, the AfD won the state elections in the eastern German state of Thuringia on Sunday 1 September with 30.5 per cent of the vote, the party’s first victory in a state election.
Around five million people in the eastern German states of Saxony and Thuringia were eligible to vote for new state parliaments.
In the smaller state of Thuringia, the AfD made German history with 30.5 per cent of the vote, while the main opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came second with 24.5 per cent.
The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a new left-wing party founded by defectors from Die Linke, made a significant showing, coming in third with 16 per cent of the vote.
Incumbent state premier Bodo Ramelow’s Left Party, which has so far formed a minority government with the Social Democrats and the Greens, lost more than half its share of the vote compared to the previous election in 2019, reaching only 12.5 per cent of the vote this time.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD won 7 per cent of the vote, while the national coalition partners, the Greens and the liberal FDP, did not receive enough votes to be represented in the next state parliament.
In Thuringia, the turnout was over 70 per cent.
Right-wing consolidates in Saxony with AfD and CDU
Compared to previous state elections since the annexation of the GDR, voter turnout in Saxony reached record levels.
With 74.4 per cent of voters in the state, the turnout surpassed the record set in 1990, when 72.8 per cent of voters went to the polls.
According to public broadcaster ARD, the CDU of incumbent state premier Michael Kretschmer won a narrow victory in Saxony with 31.5 per cent of the vote, just ahead of the AfD with 30 per cent.
The BSW also came third in Saxony, with 12 per cent of the vote.
Kretschmer has so far governed in coalition with the Greens and the SPD, which won 5.5 per cent and 8.5 per cent of the vote respectively, and both will be represented in the next state parliament.
AfD leader Weidel: Voters want AfD-CDU coalition
Speaking to ZDF after the election results were announced, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel argued that voters had voted for an AfD-CDU coalition.
Pointing out that without the AfD there would be no stable government in the state governments, Weidel said that the parties forming the traffic light coalition in the federal government had been punished.
Tino Chrupalla, the party’s other co-leader, told ZDF that in Thuringia, as in Saxony, the will of the voters had been formed, that there should be a political change and that there was a clear mandate to govern in Thuringia.
“The AfD is ready to talk to all parties, and others should consider whether the so-called firewall against the AfD is still valid,” Chrupalla said.
AfD’s Höcke wants talks with other parties
“We are the number one people’s party,” Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD in Thuringia, told ARD television. Speaking of a historic result, Höcke added that he would start talks with other parties about joining the government.
We are ready to take on the responsibility of government,” Höcke said, adding that it was a good parliamentary tradition for the strongest party to invite people to talks after the election.
Höcke failed to win his own constituency in Thuringia. According to the state election officer in the Greiz II constituency, Höcke was defeated by CDU candidate Christian Tischner in the direct election to the state parliament. Höcke received 38.9 per cent of the vote, compared to 43 per cent for Tischner.
Höcke had long been looking for a promising constituency after losing the state election to the CDU in the predominantly Catholic Eichsfeld district of Thuringia five years ago.
CDU refused to cooperate with AfD, Greens and Left Party in Thuringia
CDU candidate Mario Voigt, who came second in Thuringia with 23.7 per cent of the vote, presented himself as a clear alternative to the minority coalition of left-wing state premier Bodo Ramelow, but found it difficult to capitalise on the discontent in the state.
Voigt organised his campaign as a “duel” between himself and Höcke, presenting himself as a Thuringia politician as opposed to a West German politician like Höcke or Ramelow.
Voigt categorically rejected cooperation with the AfD, as well as with the Left Party and the Greens.
Voigt told his supporters earlier in the evening that the CDU had returned as ‘the strongest force in the political centre’.
Voigt also believes that his party has the mandate to govern. “We in the CDU also see this as an opportunity for political change in the CDU leadership,” he said in Erfurt.
Left-wing premier wants CDU to form government
“I am fighting against the normalisation of fascism,” Thuringia’s Prime Minister Ramelow told ARD television about the AfD.
In the election campaign, Ramelow had not fought against the CDU or the BSW, but against the AfD. Now he believes that Voigt, the CDU’s top candidate, has taken on the task of governing.
“Whoever gets the most votes from across the democratic spectrum should initiate talks and invite them,” Ramelow said.
“I have no problem with a political office being given for a limited period of time,” the Left Party politician said of the prospect of losing his position as prime minister.
Green light from Wagenknecht for CDU and SPD
Alongside the AfD, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) was one of the big winners of the election.
With Katja Wolf, a former left-wing politician, as its top candidate in Thuringia, the BSW won 15.6 per cent of the vote and entered the state parliament in Erfurt.
During the election campaign, the BSW scored points on national issues, such as criticising arms supplies to Ukraine and calling for negotiations with Russia.
But its positions on limiting immigration and social security also attracted the attention of many voters.
“We hope to form a good government [in Saxony] together with the CDU, possibly also with the SPD,” party leader Sahra Wagenknecht told ARD television. “I hope it will work,” she said.
“A similar coalition could also be considered in Thuringia,” the BSW leader said.
Wagenknecht, on the other hand, explicitly ruled out a coalition with the AfD in Thuringia, stressing that they ‘cannot work together’ with AfD state leader Björn Höcke.
However, a statement on the BSW’s official X account said: “In addition to concrete improvements for the people, a commitment to diplomacy in the Ukraine war and a rejection of the deployment of US medium-range missiles are essential for possible coalitions. We do not exist only as a majority supplier. That remains the case,” the statement said.
The CDU is open to establishing contact with the BSW
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann regards his party’s election results in Thuringia and Saxony as a success. Speaking to ARD, Linnemann said that the CDU is a ‘real people’s party’ and argued that the traffic light parties had been punished and that the AfD result was deceptive.
Linnemann emphasised that the CDU would not form a coalition with the AfD. As for possible alliances between the CDU and the BSW, he said that this would be decided in the federal states by the two CDU leadership candidates Kretschmer and Voigt.
Jens Spahn, deputy chairman of the CDU parliamentary group, believes that it is possible for the CDU to work together with the BSW at the state level. Spahn is convinced that the BSW in Thuringia primarily wants to focus on state politics.
