Fear of the far right is on the rise in Germany

The far-right AfD has hit an all-time high in German opinion polls. On Sunday, the party won the regional elections for the first time, electing the Sonneberg Landrat (the highest official in the region). She hopes to win her first term next year.

Elections in the tiny district of Sonneberg, with a population of 55,000, have been tumultuous in Germany for weeks. In the group of municipalities under Sonneberg’s control, the Alternative for Germany council candidate ran against a conservative CDU politician. No one initially got an absolute majority. In the second round, substitute man Robert Sisselman won with 52.8 percent of the vote on Sunday.

The AfD’s first regional director comes at a time when many Germans are deeply concerned about the growing influence of the far-right and radical right on German politics. In all five East German states, the AfD, which is partly classified by Germany’s domestic security service as “extreme right”, is leading opinion polls. In recent weeks, the party has also grown nationally, from 17 to 18 to 19 percent.

This means that West German voters also say they will switch to AfD, although there are far fewer of them in the East. Since last week, the AfD has been just above the prime minister’s SPD in one national poll, trailing only the opposition CDU.

Cordon Health

The AfD’s lead comes from the state of Thuringia. Thanks to the social unrest surrounding Corona, the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, AfD leader Bjorn Hook managed to propel his party higher in the polls last year, with more than 30 percent of the vote. In the fall of 2024, regional elections will be held in Thuringia — all 16 German states have largely independent governments — and there is a very real chance that the AfD will win them under Hook.

All other German parties swear to uphold the “wall of fire,” a medical cordon around the AfD, no matter what. But this is getting more difficult. Almost all other parties from very different political backgrounds should join forces to keep the party out of the state government. In Thuringia, where the AfD came second with a quarter of the vote in 2019, it led to a government crisis before succeeding with much art and flight finding a majority that sidelined the party. Thus, the far right is undoubtedly gaining more influence on East German politics.

fetch in the first country ratAlthough Sonneberg is the second smallest district in Germany, It is an important picket point on the path to greater power. The AfD hopes to show Sonneberg that it too can govern rather than oppose, and that voting for the AfD is not a losing vote. “On Sunday, the first brick of the firewall fell,” AfD leader Tino Chrupala said in Sonneberg. the country rat Himself, Robert Sesselmann, promised that the replacement for Germany would go down in history in Thuringia next year.

Anti-democracy

Meanwhile, the leader of the AfD in Thuringia has dragged the party to the far right there, from a far-right, anti-immigration party to a far-right political movement that German authorities consider anti-democratic. Höcke has far more influence on the AfD as a whole than the two official party leaders, and there’s a good chance he could take a shot at the leadership of the national party after a possible victory in Thuringia.

hook, who in 2010 still accompany neo-Nazi marchesAgainst corona measures, against supporting Ukraine, against the existing political system. He puts forward population theory and other racist conspiracy theories, and makes rants against science, the media, and democratic institutions. Germany’s domestic security service put him on probation in 2020 with an officially dissolved wing of the AfD, and expanded that to the entire AfD last year.