Voters in two former East German states head to the polls on Sunday in elections that are expected to see the far-right AfD party make big gains and deal a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government. If they win, it would be the first time a far-right party has the most seats in a German state parliament since World War II.
Germans head to the polls in two eastern states on Sunday, with the far-right AfD on track to win a state election for the first time and Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition set to receive a drubbing just a year before federal elections.
The Alternative for Germany is polling first on 30% in Thuringia and neck-and-neck with the conservatives in Saxony on 30-32%. A win would mark the first time a far-right party has the most seats in a German state parliament since World War Two.
The 11-year-old party would be unlikely to be able to form a state government even if it does win, as it is polling short of a majority and other parties refuse to collaborate with it.
But a strong showing for the AfD and another populist party, the newly-created Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), named after its founder, a former communist, would complicate coalition building.
“Our freedoms are being increasingly restricted because people are being allowed into the country who don’t fit in,” the AfD’s leader in Thuringia, Bjoern Hoecke, said at a campaign event in Nordhausen on Thursday.
(Reuters)
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