Left-wing nationalist party Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which wants to stop uncontrolled migration and has a pro-peace stance on the Ukraine war, will be the kingmaker in the parliaments of Saxony and Thuringia following regional elections in the two eastern German states.
As we reported, voter dissatisfaction with the left-liberal ‘traffic light’ coalition in Berlin resulted in a massive victory for the anti-immigration party AfD in Thuringia, which also finished second in Saxony, just behind the centre-right CDU.
AfD, which has been labelled an “extremist” party by the political establishment for its tough stance on migration, crime, and security, performed remarkably well among the younger generation of voters. Thirty-seven percent of voters aged between 18 and 24 gave their support for the party in Thuringia, where AfD came first with 32.8%. The party also did well among 25 to 34-year-olds and 35 to 44-year-olds, gaining 34% of the votes.
When asked which issues played the biggest role in their decision to choose AfD, 36% percent of their voters cited immigration, followed by crime and security with 35%. The answers are not surprising, given the fact that Germany has been riddled with a spate of knife crimes committed by migrants in recent months,culminating in the murder of three festivalgoers by a Syrian.
Signalling how mainstream parties have distanced themselves from ordinary voters, Katina Schubert, deputy leader of the far-left Die Linke—which has governed the state of Thuringia in an alliance with the Social Democrats and the Greens for the past ten years—said on Monday, September 2nd, that migration is not the problem but “young men who vote for the AfD.”
It is no wonder that Die Linke suffered heavy losses, dropping from 31% to 13% in Thuringia, and dropping from 10% to 4.5% in Saxony.
The Social democrats (SPD), who received only 7.3% and 6.1% of the votes in Saxony and Thuringia, seem also to be less worried about their own failings than about the results of the AfD. Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the SPD urged mainstream parties to form governments without “right-wing extremists.” He said the AfD was “damaging Germany. It is weakening the economy, dividing society and ruining our country’s reputation.”
One of his coalition allies in the ‘traffic light’ coalition in Berlin, the liberal FDP, gave a more sobering assessment of the situation. The party reached a miserable 1% in both states, and its leader, Christian Lindner, called the results a debacle for all the coalition parties (including the Greens, who failed to enter the Thuringia parliament). He said citizens are “fed up” that the leadership of the country has lost control of the issue of migration.
“The traffic light coalition is politically dead,” commented conservative publication Tichys Einblick.
But the spotlight for now remains on the two eastern states which seem to have become ungovernable following the political earthquake that is the AfD’s result. Though the right-wing party’s co-leader, Tino Chrupalla, said they have a mandate to govern in Thuringia, and that they “are ready and willing to talk to all parties,” there is no such willingness on the part of the others.
CDU, which would be the AfD’s most natural ally, has ruled out a coalition in fear of being branded a “racist” party by the mainstream media. The CDU has moved too far to the left since the Chancellorship of Angela Merkel (2005-2021) and has embraced many aspects of the woke ideology driving the political discourse in the country.
Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht, which split from the far-left Die Linke last year exactly because the latter espoused these woke ideologies and a radical green agenda instead of focusing on the rights of workers and pensioners, would also be fit to ally with the AfD, seeing as how they share the same anti-immigration and anti-war platform.
The BSW performed strongly in both Saxony (11.8%) and Thuringia (15.8%), finishing third in both states, but it, too, wants to distance itself from the AfD. BSW’s leader Sahra Wagenknecht has also ruled out cooperating with parties, such as the CDU, who wish to station U.S. missiles in Germany.
However, the BSW will have to think of itself as a kingmaker from now on, as forming a government in Saxony and Thuringia without the party seems impossible.
If the AfD is to be excluded from all forms of collaborations, the CDU, which was the runner-up in Thuringia, will have to join forces with not just the Social democrats, but also BSW or Die Linke, or both. The only problem is that the centre-right party has so far rejected any sort of cooperation with Die Linke. Both Die Linke and BSW are successors of the communist party of East Germany, and the thought of CDU aligning with them could send shivers down their voters’ spines.
The situation is only slightly better for the CDU in Saxony. The state has been run by the centre-right, the SPD, and the Greens since 2019 but the three parties don’t have enough seats in parliament to continue their coalition. The CDU needs at least one other party—once again, the BSW and Die Linke could come into play, or the Greens being replaced with the BSW.
Whatever the outcome, the sheer attempt at keeping the AfD from seizing power and ignoring the will of the third of all voters, will have damaging political consequences for all the mainstream parties. In addition, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht will have to decide whether to enter an ideologically strange coalition, or stick to its guns and uphold its values.
