The “regional” elections of BrandenburgFederal state surrounding Berlin and historic stronghold of Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), are presented very close This Sunday with the extreme right Alternative for Germany (AfD) set to win another election victory and extend its winning streak after taking first place Thuringia and comes second Saxony.
The hypothetical victory of the extreme right in Brandenburg would hit New blow for the head of the German executive, Chancellor Olaf Scholzthat his party is questioning as a candidate one year before the legislative elections.
Just over two million citizens aged 16 and over have the right to vote in the eastern state of Brandenburg. Social Democratic stronghold since German reunificationwhere this party currently governs with a coalition of conservatives and greens.
But the AfD, which is gaining popularity, particularly in the east of the country, threatens to take first place from the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Brandenburg is the third and final state to hold regional elections this year in eastern Germany, where The ultra party has already swept through Thuringiawhere it was the leading force with 32.8% of the votes and in Saxonywhere with a similar percentage was only one point behind the winners Christian Democrats.
Although in Brandenburg The SPD has managed to make a slight comeback According to the latest polls published this Thursday by public television ZDF, remains one point behind the AfD.
This one is in the lead with 28% voting intentionwhile the Christian Democrats would come third with 14%, followed by the left-wing populist Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which would obtain 13%.
Migration and security
Regional issues were addressed in the campaign, such as: Tesla Gigafactory which started operating in 2022 in the municipality of Grünheide and its impact on the region’s aquifers or the poor health system.
But inevitably, they have dominated national political issues such as migration and security, usually exploited by the AfD, a formation which, in Brandenburg, as in the rest of East Germany, transcends the positions of the extreme right and winks at the neo-Nazi movement.
Thus, a poster caused a stir during the campaign in which, under the slogan ““We protect your children.”A man and a woman form a protective roof over some children with their arms in an ambiguous pose similar to the fascist salute.
Additionally, after a jihadist killed three people with a knife in western Germany in August, the Brandenburg AfD called on the regional parliament to ban all asylum seekers, recognized refugees and displaced Ukrainians from public events.
ElOlaf Scholz, this week at a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin.
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Scholz, cornered
Given that the rest of the parties are currently maintaining a cordon sanitaire against the extreme right, it is very unlikely that she will manage to govern in Brandenburg, but her victory, which would mean a defeat for the Social Democrats in a historic stronghold, This would deal a further blow to Scholz’s already very damaged image.
His reputation has suffered so much in recent times that Brandenburg’s premier, his party colleague Dietmar Woidke, has expressly asked him not to take part in the campaign, although the chancellor lives in Potsdam, the state capital, where his wife, Britta Ernst, was education minister until last year.
One year before the general elections, Polls point to SPD struggling to stay in third place behind the Christian Democrats and the AfD, with only 14.5% of the vote, while their coalition partners the Greens and the Liberals would be relegated to fourth and sixth place with 11 and 4.1% of the vote respectively.
In this context, Frustration with Scholz grows within the SPDwhich is attributed, among other failures, to a lack of leadership, poor communication skills and the abandonment of social democratic policies in the face of pressure on savings imposed by the liberals.
As the party’s hope and There are rumors that Defense Minister Boris Pistorius could be replacedwho, as Germany’s highest-rated politician, is currently casting a growing shadow over the chancellor again.
