Germany’s anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party celebrated a historic election victory over the weekend, giving the far right a boost in Europe’s biggest economy.
The AfD secured 32.8% of the vote in the German state of Thuringia, taking a nine-point lead ahead of the conservative CDU, according to preliminary results.
That makes it the first far-right party to win a major election in Germany since the Nazis in 1938.
AfD also came second in the neighboring state of Saxony. Security officials in both states deem the AfD “right-wing extremists.”
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz described the results as “bitter.” He urged other mainstream parties to exclude the far right from coalitions.
“The AfD is damaging Germany. It is weakening the economy, dividing society and ruining our country’s reputation,” he said in a statement to Reuters.
So far, other parties in the regional parliament have said they will not join a coalition with the group.
However, even though they are unlikely to rule in Thuringia, German politics expert Mark Allinson told BI that the AfD will still be able to insist on participation in national politics.
“As far as I know, it will be impossible to elect a speaker of the parliament without their agreement,” said Allinson, a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol. “So there is the potential for a stalemate to situation to emerge.”
Scholz also made a statement urging regional parties against forming a coalition with the AfD, saying “All democratic parties are now called upon to form stable governments without right-wing extremists.”
Allinson told BI that the AfD could use this to its benefit. “The extremists will spin this as the other parties trying to block democracy,” he said.
Germany’s national election is set to take place in September next year. The latest results are a blow to Scholz’s which has raised questions about its future.
The AfD was founded in 2013. It started out as a moderately conservative option in contrast to the Christian Democratic Union, but grew to adopt increasingly nationalist and xenophobic ideologies after 2015.
The party also vocally rejects the idea that human activity caused the climate crisis. AfD seeks to prevent weapons from Germany going to Ukraine.
In 2021, the German spy agency placed the party under surveillance for suspected extremism, the first time a major political party has been scrutinized this way since World War II.
The AfD leader of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, was found guilty and fined $13,900 in 2023 for using a banned Nazi slogan during one of his speeches.
He appeared in court again in June this year, accused of inciting crowds to complete the same banned phrase (“Alles für Deutschland”, or “Everything for Germany), which was originally used by the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. He is appealing the decision.
The far right is gaining ground in some parts of Europe.
In June, the European Parliamentary elections saw far-right factions gain critical mass.
The National Rally, France’s far-right bloc led by Marine Le Pen, trounced the French president’s centrist Renaissance party, winning more than twice the votes his coalition received.
Macron took a huge bet in June by calling for a legislative election following the European Parliamentary result, leading to a surprise left-wing victory.
In Italy, the far right has cemented its power in the form of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ultra-conservative Brothers of Italy, which became the ruling party in 2022.
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