Europe

The cordon sanitaire around the far right leaves eastern Germany in the hands of ‘unnatural coalitions’

The cordon sanitaire around the far right leaves eastern Germany in the hands of 'unnatural coalitions'

An earthquake struck on Sunday the political scene Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won regional elections for the first time, in which the three-party coalition of the federal government led by Olaf Scholz suffered a brutal setback. The blow was so strong that it weakens the alliance, already weak due to internal battles, in view of the general elections that will be held. in September 2025.

In Thuringia, the AfD has swept the board 32.8% of the votescompared to the 23.4% it obtained in the previous elections in 2019, and will thus have ten more seats. It is also ten points that it has surpassed the conservatives of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who have achieved a 23.6% of the supports.

In third place with more than 15% of the votes was the Sahra Wagenknecht League (BSW)a party that is barely a year old and revolves around Wagenknecht, a member of parliament who has managed to combine an extreme left-wing economic approach with an ultra-conservative social and international programme. Very close is the left of The Link. The Greens, coalition partners in the Scholz government, have been left out of the regional chamber after failing to overcome the 5% barrier with 3.2% of the votes. The Social Democratic Party had to settle for 6.1% of the vote.

In Saxony, the result is similar, although the Christian Democrats have narrowly overtaken AfD, with 31.9% of the votes for the first and 30.6% for the secondDespite this narrow result, conservative Michael Kretschmer, who governed this last term with the Greens and Social Democrats, wants to stay in power. The problem is that BSW is now the third largest party in the party.

These figures reflect the recent rise of the far right and the emergence of new anti-system parties, such as the anti-immigration leftist of BSWThey also note the complexity of forming coalition governments, especially without the AfD. sanitary cordon which prevents other parties from reaching an agreement with the far-right. Thus, the increasingly fractured East of Germany is plunged into a political labyrinth.

In Thuringia, Björn Höcke, representative of the most radical wing within AfD has little chance of coming to power after Chancellor Scholz called on the other parties not to make a pact with the ultras. The only realistic formula would therefore be an alliance between the CDU, BSW and Die LinkeThe problem is that the Christian Democrats They have as a principle, set out in a resolution at a party congress, not to form coalitions with the AfD, but not with the left either.

The CDU says nothing about reaching an agreement with the party Sahra Wagenknecht, who is known as the ‘Madonna of neo-communism’. And the truth is that in recent years the conservative agenda has been leaning to the rightespecially when it comes to immigration.

“Anti-democratic” cordon

The dynamics are so complicated It could take months before coalitions are formed. However, the AfD has already begun to lay its cards on the table. This week, the Co-chair of the far-right party, Alice Weidel, said that voters had given her party a clear mandate to form part of the government in the eastern German federal states and described it as “undemocratic” the cordon sanitaire lying against the group.

“The voters have given us a clear mandate to govern “The cordon sanitaire is undemocratic,” Weidel said at a party press conference reported by the German Bundestag. Efe.

In the same vein, the party’s co-chairman in Thuringia, Steffan Möllerpointed out that, contrary to what is said, the possibility of forming a stable Government in that land is given if the AfD is taken into account. “They say that a stable government is impossible. That is not true. The results show what coalition the voters want,” he said.

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