An earthquake struck on Sunday the political scene Germany when the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won regional elections for the first time, in which the three-party coalition of the federal government led by Olaf Scholz also suffered a brutal setback. The blow was so severe that it weakens the alliance, already weakened by internal struggles, in the face of the upcoming general elections. in September 2025.
In Thuringia, the AfD swept the stage 32.8% of the votescompared to the 23.4% obtained in the previous elections in 2019, and will thus have ten additional seats. There are also ten points by which he surpassed the conservatives of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who obtained a 23.6% support.
In third place, with more than 15% of the votes, the Sahra Wagenknecht League (BSW)a party barely a year old that revolves around Wagenknecht, a deputy who has managed to combine a far-left economic approach with an ultra-conservative programme on social and international levels. Nearby is the left of The link. The Greens, The coalition partners of the Scholz government were excluded from the regional chamber by failing to exceed the 5% mark with 3.2% of the vote. The Social Democratic Party had to be content with 6.1% of the vote.
In Saxony, the result was similar, although the Christian Democrats narrowly overtook the AfD, with 31.9% of the votes for the first and 30.6% for the secondDespite this close result, the conservative Michael Kretschmer, who governed this last legislature with the Greens and the Social Democrats, wants to continue to lead. The problem is that BSW is now the third most voted force.
These figures reflect the recent rise of the far right and the emergence of new protest parties, such as BSW’s anti-immigration leftistThey also note the complexity of forming coalition governments, especially without the AfD for the sanitary cordon This prevents the rest of the parties from agreeing with the extreme right. Thus, an increasingly fractured East Germany is sinking into a political labyrinth.
In Thuringia, Björn Höcke, representative of the the most radical wing of the AfD He has virtually no chance of gaining power after Chancellor Scholz called on other parties not to make deals with the ultras. In this way, the only realistic formula would be an alliance between CDU, BSW and Die LinkeThe problem is that the Christian Democrats They have a principle, stated in a resolution of a party congress, not to form a coalition with the AfD, but not with the left.
CDU says nothing about its agreement with the party Sahra Wagenknecht, nicknamed the “Madonna of neo-communism”. And the truth is that in recent years, the conservatives’ program has evolved leaning to the rightespecially in matters of immigration.
“Anti-democratic” rope
The dynamic is so complicated It may take months before coalitions are formed. But the AfD has already started to lay its cards on the table. This week, the The co-chair of the ultra party, Alice Weidel, assured that the voters had given her party a clear mandate to be part of the government in the eastern German states and described “Anti-democratic” the sanitary cordon lie against the group.
“The voters gave us a clear answer mandate to govern “both in Thuringia and Saxony and I would like to warn against the temptation to ignore it. The cordon sanitaire is undemocratic,” Weidel said at a party press conference recorded by Efe.
In the same spirit, the co-president of the party in Thuringia, Steffan Möllerstressed that, contrary to what has been said, the possibility of forming a stable government in this country to land is given if the AfD is taken into account. “They say that a stable government is impossible. This is not true. In the results, we can read which coalition the voters want,” he said.
