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Agence France-Presse

Germany’s far-right AfD won a landmark first regional vote on Sunday in the former East German state of Thuringia, exit polls showed, in a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz ahead of national elections in 2025.
The AfD (Alternative fur Deutschland) took between 30.5 and 33.5 per cent of the vote in Thuringia, according to exit polls, with the conservative CDU in second place at around 24.5 per cent.
The AfD was also neck-and-neck with the CDU for first place in the neighbouring state of Saxony, which also held a regional election on Sunday, the polls showed.

The AfD is unlikely to come to power in either state because other parties have ruled out working with the far-right to form a government.
But the result is still a political earthquake as it would represent the first time in Germany’s post-World War 2 history that a far-right party has won a state election.
If confirmed, it would also be a huge blow for Scholz’s Social Democrats and the other parties in his fractious coalition government, the Greens and the liberal FDP.
The SPD looked to have scored between 6.5 and 7 per cent in Thuringia, and between 7.5 and 8.5 per cent in Saxony.
Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the AfD, hailed the result as a “historic success”, while the party’s other co-leader, Tino Chrupalla, said the party had a “clear mandate for government” in Thuringia.
Chrupalla said both states had sent the message that “there should be a change of politics” and the AfD was “ready and willing to talk to all parties”.

Bjoern Hoecke, the controversial head of the AfD in Thuringia, told the ARD broadcaster his party was the “people’s party in Thuringia”.
“We need change and change will only come with the AfD,” he said, hailing the “historic result”.
Hoecke is one of Germany’s most controversial far-right politicians and was fined twice this year for deliberately using a banned Nazi slogan.
The exit polls also showed a good night for BSW, a new party founded by the firebrand politician Sahra Wagenknecht after she quit the far-left Die Linke.
BSW scored between 14.5 and 16 per cent in Thuringia and between 11.5 and 12 per cent in Saxony, according to the polls.

Wagenknecht’s party has appealed to voters in eastern Germany with a dovish stance towards Russia and calls for a radical crackdown on immigration.
The party scored an immediate success in June’s European elections, hauling in around six per cent of the German vote.
Other parties’ refusal to work with the AfD potentially leaves BSW as the kingmaker in Thuringia and Saxony, despite serious policy disagreements with potential partners, especially on Ukraine.
Scholz’s coalition partners, the Greens and the FDP, had a dismal night in both states, scoring even less than the SPD.

The contests in Thuringia and Saxony come just over a week after three people were killed in a suspected Islamist knife attack in the western city of Solingen, which has fuelled a bitter debate over immigration in Germany.
The alleged attacker, a 26-year-old Syrian man with suspected links to Islamic State, was scheduled for deportation but evaded attempts by authorities to remove him.
The government has sought to respond to the alarm by announcing stricter knife controls and rules for migrants in Germany illegally.

The mood was jubilant on Sunday among supporters of the AfD.
To them, the hero of the hour was Hoecke, the former history teacher who delivered the Alternative AfD’s biggest victory to date.
“He absolutely had to win,” said party faithful Patrick Teichmann, 32, his eyes sparkling with joy at the rise of the party which has vowed to deport illegal immigrants.
Wearing a T-shirt carrying Hoecke’s signature, he described the 52-year-old state party leader as “the only politician who has any sense these days”.

However many German observers are deeply worried about the decade-old rise of the AfD party from a Eurosceptic fringe group to a nationalist, anti-immigration movement.
After the first exit polls were announced, several hundred young demonstrators gathered near the state parliament, most of them from the anti-fascist movement and dressed in black.
Rally organisers cautioned them about laws that ban fully covering one’s face with scarves or ski masks, while around 50 police officers kept a watchful eye.
Slogans on placards demanded a ban on the AfD and support for refugees.
Public debate has flared for years in Germany about large numbers of asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the mood at times inflamed by violent crimes.

Saxony is the most populous of the former East German states and has been a conservative stronghold since reunification.
Thuringia, meanwhile, is more rural and the only state currently led by the far-left Die Linke, a successor of East Germany’s ruling communist party.
The state was an early centre of support for the Nazi party, which first came to power there in 1930 as part of a coalition government.
A third former East German state, Brandenburg, is also expected to hold an election later in September, where polls have the AfD ahead on around 24 per cent.
Created in 2013 as an anti-euro group before morphing into an anti-immigration party, the AfD has capitalised on the fractious three-way coalition in Berlin to rise in opinion polls.
In June’s EU parliament elections, the party scored a record 15.9 per cent overall and did especially well in eastern Germany, where it emerged as the biggest force.


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Germany

Germany’s far-right AfD wins first regional election, exit polls show

People sit near a sign that reads “No to Nazis” on the day of the Thuringia state election in Erfurt, Germany on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

AfD member Bjorn Hocke speaks to the media after first exit polls in the Thuringia state elections, in Erfurt, Germany on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

People hold a banner reading “Bjoern Hoecke is a Nazi” during a protest on Sunday against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia at Berlin-Blankenburg. Photo: dpa

A children’s drawing reading “For our future” is fixed next to a sign indicating the way to a polling station in Maxen near Dresden, eastern Germany, during Saxony’s regional elections on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Protesters hold placards reading ‘Heart instead of agitation’ during a protest in commemoration of the Solingen knife attack, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

BSW party leader Sahra Wagenknecht, centre, and top candidate Katja Wolf, right, react after first exit polls in the Thuringia state elections in Erfurt, Germany on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Demonstrators march from the Thuringian state parliament through Erfurt during an anti-fascist rally following the state elections in Thuringia, Germany on Sunday. Photo: dpa

Demonstrators march from the Thuringian state parliament through Erfurt during an anti-fascist rally on Sunday. Photo: dpa

UK PM Keir Starmer urges European allies to meet far-right ‘challenge’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of the Paralympics Games opening ceremony on Wednesday. They will meet in Paris on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Woman injures 6 in stabbing attack on bus in Germany

Police officers investigate on Friday after a knife attack on a bus in the German city of Siegen. Photo: dpa

Flowers and candles are seen at a makeshift memorial in Solingen on August 26, after a fatal stabbing rampage in the western German city. Photo: Reuters

Police vehicles are parked at the scene of a knife attack in Siegen, Germany, on Friday. Photo: dpa

UK’s Starmer condemns attack on asylum seeker hotel as far-right violence spreads

Protestors throw a garbage bin on fire outside a hotel in Rotherham, Britain. Photo: Reuters

The violence is the worst in England in more than a decade. Photo: Reuters

Scenes outside the hotel in Rotherham. Photo: Reuters

A car burns during an anti-immigration protest in Middlesbrough, England. Photo: PA via AP

Germany deports 28 Afghan nationals, the first since 2021 Taliban takeover

It is unlikely that the deportations will lead to a wider thawing of relations between Germany and the Taliban. Photo: dpa

The alleged perpetrator of the knife attack in Solingen is taken by a helicopter after being brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice. Photo: dpa

Participants in front of the Brandenburg Gate protest to commemorate the victims of the Solingen terror attack. Photo: EPA-EFE

EU elections: far-right rose on the back of centrist parties’ empty promises

Supporters of the French far-right party, National Rally, react to the European election on June 9 in Paris, France. Photo: AP

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AfD took former East German state Thuringia, was neck-and-neck with conservative CDU for first place in Saxony, which also held election


AfD took former East German state Thuringia, was neck-and-neck with conservative CDU for first place in Saxony, which also held election.
