Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won a district election for the first time, overtaking Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats in nationwide polls, raising concerns about a broader rise for the populist party in the upcoming elections.
AfD candidate Robert Stuhlmann won a runoff election on Sunday in Sonneberg in Thuringia against the incumbent District Administrator Jürgen Köpper from the centre-right CDU – against other parties such as the Social Democrats (SPD). Greens and Free Democrats support the CDU candidate.
“I am dismayed by the result in Sonneberg,” said Katrin Göring-Eckardt, member of the Greens, who is also deputy chairwoman of the Bundestag. “Thank you to everyone who continues to fight to keep this county democratic, open-minded and friendly.”
However, she added that Sonneberg – which is one of Germany’s smallest districts with only around 48,000 eligible voters – cannot be compared to the rest of Thuringia and certainly not to the country as a whole, she added.
Still, the far-right victory in local elections – which have been heavily overshadowed by national issues such as a controversial green electricity law – comes amid a broader AfD surge in national polls: The latest data from POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, which averages nationwide polls, shows that the AfD has overtaken Scholz’s SPD as the second most popular political party in Germany.
The extreme right is particularly strong in the states of the former GDR, which despite reunification continue to record lower rates of employment and economic development. The AfD is currently leading in polls in the eastern states of Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, where elections will be held next year.
Most recently, the party managed to win voters by opposing the rising number of migrants and the government’s plans to promote green energy, particularly through a new law banning gas and oil heating in new buildings.
Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria, reacted to the right-wing extremist victory in Sonneberg with the words: “The danger for the Jewish community and other minorities has long been real.”
The AfD has also promoted anti-Semitic clichés, as a study by the American Jewish Committee shows.
In view of the widespread criticism that the controversy over the federal government’s heating law had contributed to the rise of right-wing extremists, Scholz’ spokesman Steffen Hebestreit replied that the government had “a clear concept” for the green turn and was “on the right track, but we. ” are not there yet.”
In a barely veiled reference to the AfD, Hebestreit also warned that “playing groups off against each other and perhaps also blaming migrants for something they are not responsible for is certainly not a recipe that would lead this country to a good future.” .”
Scholz acknowledged in a speech last week that the green transition “won’t be easy” and stressed that the government must “provide compelling answers” to citizens worried about potentially costly moves to move Germany away from fossil fuels.
“Otherwise, those who engage in politics out of public fear and a bad mood will become even more popular,” said the Chancellor.