Far-right party wins first state election in Germany since World War II

A far-right party in Germany won a state election Sunday for the first time since World War II, dealing a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), won a majority of the vote in Thuringia, coming in ahead of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and becoming the first far-right party to win a state election after the second World War.

In Thuringia, the AfD earned 32.8 percent of the vote compared to CDU’s 23.6 percent.

Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) party earned only 6.1 percent of the vote, according to pollster Forschungsgruppe Wahlen.

“This is a historic success for us,” said Alice Weidel, a national co-leader of the AfD.

Other parties say they won’t join the AfD, but the party’s strength, as seen in this election, will make it difficult to form new state governments and force other parties to join coalitions, The Associated Press reported.

The results sound alarm bells for Scholz with just a year to go before Germany’s national election. He may have to be tougher on immigration and talk more about the Russia-Ukraine war, issues that were dominant in this campaign, according to Reuters.

The SPD’s general secretary, Kevin Kuehnert, said the results show they will have to be “asserting ourselves more strongly” and “not letting ourselves be led by the nose by parties that have just been kicked out of a state parliament,” the news service reported.

The AfD did not perform as well in elections in Saxony, where it earned about 30.6 percent support compared to CDU’s 31.9 percent, the AP noted.

There is another state election on Sept. 22 in eastern Brandenburg. Scholz’s party leads there, but if the AfD wins again, it could pile on the embarrassment.

In a post on Instagram Monday, Scholz said the election results are bitter. He said the SPD has rallied together and had a good campaign.

“The results for the AfD in #Thüringen and #Sachsen are worrying. Our country cannot get used to this,” Scholz said. “The AfD is damaging Germany. It weakens the economy, divides society and ruins the reputation of our country.”

The Associated Press contributed.