German far-right wins state election in Thuringia for first time
Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has achieved a historic victory in a state election for the first time since World War II, according to preliminary official results released on Sunday.
The AfD secured 32.8% of the vote in Thuringia, outpacing the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), who finished second with 23.6%, News.Az reports citing f oreign media .The newly formed left-wing populist party Bundnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) came in third by winning 15.8% of the vote.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) suffered one of their worst election results in the state with just 6.1%. Their coalition partners – the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats – failed to make the 5% threshold necessary for entry into the state parliament.
Crucially, none of the parties managed to win enough seats in the parliament to be able to form a single party majority government.
The far-right AfD is unlikely to come to power despite its election win, as all other parties ruled out any coalition with it.
The AfD’s co-chairwoman, Alice Weidel, hailed her party’s performance as a “historical success” and said that voters have punished Scholz’s coalition government.
She called on the CDU and other parties to change their stance against the AfD and engage in talks with them to build coalition governments in Thuringia and the neighboring state of Saxony.
“The voters want to see the AfD in the government. We are representing around 30% of voters in both federal states. Without us, a stable government is no longer possible,” she said.
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