How Radical Parties on the Right and Left Have Shaken Up German Politics

Parties on the extreme right and left delivered another wake-up call to mainstream German politicians with strong performances in Sept. 1 elections in two of the country’s 16 federal states. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the most votes in Thuringia and came second in Saxony, while the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) on the far left came third in both regions, which were part of formerly communist East Germany before the country was reunified in 1990. Although they are from opposite ends of the political spectrum, both parties are anti-immigration and pro-Russia, advocating an end to Germany’s military support for Ukraine. Their next target is the Sept. 22 election in Brandenburg, the eastern state that surrounds the federal capital Berlin.

The populist surge is a major blow to the country’s political establishment, especially to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s already shaky, three-party ruling coalition ahead of the next federal election in just over a year. The parties in the coalition — Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democratic Party — together got less than 15% of the vote in Thuringia as well as in Saxony.