The elections of the ‘Land’ of Brandenburga federal state surrounding Berlin and historic fiefdom of Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), are presented very close This Sunday with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is ready to reap a new electoral victory and thus prolong its winning streak after taking first place in Thuringia and finish second in Saxony.
A hypothetical victory for the far right in Brandenburg would deal Another blow to the German Prime Minister, Chancellor Olaf Scholzwho is being questioned by his party as a candidate one year before the general elections.
Just over two million citizens over the age of 16 are eligible to vote in the eastern state of Brandenburg, a Social Democratic stronghold since German reunificationwhere that party currently governs with a coalition of conservatives and greens.
However, the AfD, which is gaining popularity, particularly in the east of the country, is threatening to overtake the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in first place.
Brandenburg is the third and last ‘Land’ to hold regional elections this year in eastern Germany, where The ultra party has already swept through Thuringiawhere it was the first force with 32.8% of the votes and in Saxonywhere with a similar percentage was just one point behind the winners Christian Democrats.
Although in Brandenburg The SPD has managed to make a slight recovery According to the latest polls published this Thursday by public television ZDF, remains one point behind the AfD.
This one is at the top with 28% of voting intentionwhile the Christian Democrats would come third with 14%, followed by the left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which would take 13%.
Migration and security
Regional issues have featured in the campaign, such as Tesla’s Gigafactory which began operating in 2022 in the town of Grünheide and its impact on the area’s aquifers, or the poor health care.
But national policy issues such as migration and security have inevitably dominated, and are regularly exploited by the AfD, a party which in Brandenburg, as in the rest of eastern Germany, transcends far-right positions and makes allusions to the neo-Nazi movement.
Thus, a poster caused a stir during the campaign in which, under the slogan “We protect your children”a man and a woman form a protective roof over some children with their arms in a pose ambiguously similar to the fascist salute.
In addition, after a jihadist killed three people with a knife in western Germany in August, the AfD in Brandenburg called on the regional parliament to ban all asylum seekers, recognised refugees and displaced Ukrainians from attending public events.
Olaf Scholz, this week at a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin.
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Scholz, cornered
Since the other parties are currently maintaining a cordon sanitaire against the far right, it is very unlikely that it will be able to govern in Brandenburg, but its victory, which would mean a defeat for the Social Democrats in a historic stronghold, It would deal another blow to Scholz’s already battered image.
His reputation has suffered so much recently that Brandenburg’s prime minister, his party colleague Dietmar Woidke, expressly asked him not to take part in the campaign, even though the chancellor resides in Potsdam, the state capital, where his wife, Britta Ernst, was education minister until last year.
One year before the general elections, Polls show SPD struggling to stay in third place behind the Christian Democrats and AfD, with just 14.5% of the votes, while their coalition partners the Greens and Liberals would be relegated to fourth and sixth place with 11 and 4.1% respectively.
In this context, Frustration with Scholz grows within the SPDwho is accused of, among other things, a lack of leadership, poor communication skills and an abandonment of social democratic policies in the face of the pressure to save imposed by the liberals.
As the hope of the party and Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is rumoured to be a possible replacementwho as Germany’s most highly-rated politician at the moment casts a growing shadow over the current chancellor.
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