The right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has achieved a historic breakthrough in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, tripling its vote share in municipal elections and advancing to mayoral run-offs in several major cities.
The result underscores mounting voter frustration with Germany’s traditional parties, even in the country’s industrial west where the AfD has long struggled to gain traction.
According to the final tally, the governing centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) of state prime minister Hendrik Wüst held onto first place with 33.3%, a slight dip of one point compared with 2020. The Social Democrats (SPD) followed with 22.1%, down more than two points.
The AfD, however, surged to 14.5%—its best-ever showing in the state and nearly triple its previous 5.1%. This leap pushed the Greens into fourth place with 13.5%, a dramatic fall from the 20% they managed five years ago.
According to a survey, economic concerns, migration, and public safety were the dominant themes for voters, overtaking climate change, which had been the decisive issue in 2020.
In Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg, and Hagen AfD candidates reached the second round of mayoral contests—an unprecedented development in a western German state.
Sören Link, the SPD mayor of Duisburg, voiced deep frustration with his own party’s direction, warning that many working-class voters feel abandoned: “I became a member of the party of labour, I stand for social justice. I have no desire to be fooled and cheated—but that is exactly what is happening.”
AfD leaders celebrated the result as a “historic evening,” declaring the party had cemented itself as a genuine “people’s party” in the Ruhrgebiet. “The citizens have sent a clear signal: they are tired of empty promises and want real solutions,” the party said in a statement.
It pledged tougher migration controls, affordable energy, and an end to what it described as “ideological experiments” imposed by mainstream politics.
Unsurprisingly, state prime minister Hendrik Wüst urged the CDU and social democrats to back one another’s candidates in run-offs where the AfD is present. SPD state chair Sarah Philipp echoed the sentiment, insisting there could be no cooperation with the AfD at the municipal level.
Instead of self-reflection and trying to understand why the electoral mood has turned, the establishment parties are once again ganging up to deny AfD voters representation.
The outcome in North Rhine-Westphalia signals a shifting political landscape in Germany’s most populous state. While the CDU remains dominant, the AfD’s surge and ability to contest mayoral offices in urban strongholds suggests that voter disillusionment with traditional parties is intensifying.
