Germany elections: far-right AfD wins in eastern states

The far-right Alternative for Germany won in Sunday’s parliamentary elections in the states of former East Germany, underscoring lingering divisions that have existed for nearly a quarter century since the country’s reunification.

According to the results, the AfD received 34% of the vote in eastern Germany, which consists of five states and the eastern half of Berlin, DPA reports.

Interestingly, the AfD’s highest result was in the border town of Görlitz, near the border with Poland, where the far-right gained 46.7%.

The anti-immigrant party, which domestic intelligence observes as a far-right extremist group, almost doubled the result of the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, which leads the country as a whole, with 17.8% in eastern Germany.

The AfD’s stunning success in eastern Germany, which came on the heels of a historic victory in the Thuringian state elections in 2024, reflects the dissatisfaction of many residents with the difficult process of German reunification since 1990.

“The AfD has little chance of entering the government as other parties refuse to form a coalition with it, but it is only a matter of time before the situation changes,” the AfD leader, Alice Weidel, boldly stated in her victory speech.

“Our hand remains outstretched to form a government,” she told supporters, adding that it would be tantamount to “electoral fraud” if the first-place conservatives decided to govern with the left-wing parties rather than with them.

If this happens, she assures us, “We will come first next time.”

The far-right AfD received strong support from the American billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of the social network X. Musk has repeatedly called for support for this party and conducted an interview with Alice Weidel, broadcasted on X. There were claims in Germany that this could be interpreted as foreign meddling in the electoral process.

In the Bundestag elections, the conservative bloc of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union wins the most votes with 28.5%.

Sarah Wagenknecht’s populist-left Alliance, considered pro-Russian, has closely missed the threshold of 5%.