Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats managed to fight off the far-right AfD in the regional vote. However, questions about the future of Germany’s ruling coalition remain.
It was "only"a regional election and Brandenburg, with its 2.1 million eligible voters, is only one of Germany’s 16 federal states. Despite this, the vote in the eastern German state has a considerable impact on nationwide politics.
For the third regional election within three weeks, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was able to record massive gains.
If "antidemocratic parties " achieved such results, then it was a day “on which no democrat can simply celebrate,” as Green party co-leader Ricarda Lang said on Sunday evening.
The AfD, of course, viewed things differently. “We are extremely satisfied with the results,” party co-leader Alice Weidel said. The AfD has become the strongest political force in eastern Germany, with the regional election in Brandenburg only one step along its path.
I hate the title phrasing - it shouldn’t bring anyone relief it should bring anxiety that they did as well as they did. The SPD needs to push hard on progressive policies that will actually improve people’s daily life or more folks will become disenchanted and embrace racist extremist parties. When people are struggling they seek change and the extremes always offer that change in abundance.
This performance from the AfD wasn’t a bunch of skin heads - they’d still be at ~3% if it was just the hardcore assholes - this is regular folks seeking economic relief.