With victory in Sonneberg, Thuringia, AfD secures its first district cabinet, defeating a democratic front made up of all the main parties in the country. German politicians and organizations express outrage. A candidate from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was elected this Sunday (25/06) leader of the Sonneberg district in the state of Thuringia – marking the first time that the party guarantees a high office at the local level.
Robert Sesselmann won the second round of the election in Sonneberg with 52.8% of the vote two weeks after the first round, causing consternation across the country.
His opponent, the current district leader Jürgen Köpper of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), got 47.2% – despite being supported by all the main German parties: Green Party, Social Democratic Party (SPD), Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) and The Left.
The election is the latest success for the party that reached record levels of popularity in recent national polls, as it tries to capitalize on a wave of discontent with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) coalition government, the Greens and the FDP, embroiled in disputes. internal policies and budget.
With 19% to 20% support in polls, trailing the Conservatives, the AfD has been exploiting voters’ fears about recession, migration and the green transition, analysts say. The party even plans to nominate a candidate for federal chancellor in the 2025 elections.
Particularly strong in former communist East Germany, the party could win next year’s state elections in three eastern states, polls suggest.
The district of Sonneberg, located in eastern Germany, on the border with Bavaria, is one of the smallest in Germany, with a population of 57,000 inhabitants. But analysts say the AfD’s clear victory in the district sends a signal to Berlin, especially in an election where all the other major parties have joined forces in a front against the far right.
“Farewell to Democracy”
Thuringia’s Home Secretary Georg Maier (SPD) described the result in Sonneberg as “an alarm bell for all democratic forces”.
He called for party-political interests to be set aside in favor of a joint effort in defense of democracy. According to Maier, politics is a competition for the best ideas, not the biggest outrage.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany also expressed deep shock at the outcome. “To be clear: not all AfD voters hold extremist right-wing views,” said AfD president Josef Schuster. “But the candidates’ party they voted for is far-right, according to the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution.”
Schuster said he was deeply concerned that so many people agreed with the caption. “It is a violation that the democratic political forces of this country simply cannot accept.”
The International Auschwitz Committee also expressed horror. “Today is a sad day for the Sonneberg district, for Germany and for democracy. The majority of voters obviously said goodbye to democracy and deliberately opted for a Nazi-dominated far-right party of destruction.”
The strength of the AfD
In Thuringia, the AfD and its state leader, Björn Höcke, have been classified as extremists by domestic intelligence services and are officially under observation. Höcke is the main figure of the most extreme wing of the party and, although he is only leader of the party in Thuringia, he is considered one of the most influential people in the AfD.
This Sunday, he hailed the result, saying it was a prelude to more victories at the local and state levels. “Let’s prepare for the state elections in the east, where we can really create a political earthquake,” he said, referring to parliamentary elections in the states of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.
While far-right parties have been gaining ground in Europe, the AfD’s strength is particularly sensitive in Germany given the country’s Nazi past. The party opposes economic sanctions against Russia amid the war in Ukraine, and questions human action as the cause of climate change.
This month, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said right-wing extremism poses the biggest threat to democracy in the country, and warned voters about supporting the AfD.
Formed a decade ago as an anti-euro party, the party gained popularity after the 2015 migration crisis, capitalizing on the anti-immigration movement, and entered the German parliament for the first time in 2017, officially becoming an opposition party.
In Sonneberg, Sesselmann’s campaign focused more on national rather than local issues, such as high inflation rates and increased immigration. As a district leader, however, he will take care of more day-to-day issues such as child care and building and road maintenance.
ek (DPA, Reuters, ots)
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