According to polls, the right-wing extremist AfD will win the state elections in Thuringia

Berlin
CNN
—

According to polls, a right-wing extremist party will win the state elections in Germany for the first time since 1945.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), founded in 2013, is well on its way to winning the state elections in Thuringia, as initial polls by the German public broadcaster ZDF show.

According to ZDF, the AfD is expected to receive 33.5 percent of the vote, well ahead of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) with 24.5 percent.

In Saxony, where state elections also took place on Sunday, the two parties are neck and neck, according to ZDF.

The newly founded Left Party Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW) is expected to take third place in Thuringia and Saxony, where around 1.7 million people were eligible to vote.

Disappointing results are expected for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in both federal states.

The results of the local elections in Thuringia and Saxony are seen by many as a litmus test for Scholz and his coalition partners ahead of next year's federal elections. While the AfD has put the immigration issue at the heart of its agenda, the coalition built by Scholz is groaning. There are internal disputes, disagreements over policy and accusations that elected officials no longer represent the values ​​they were originally elected for.

AfD chairwoman Alice Weisel described the result in Thuringia as a “historic success” that reflected the population's “rejection” of Scholz's coalition government.

“This is an even stronger result than in the last elections and we will of course emerge from the election stronger,” she said.

“This is a rejection of this coalition and they should ask themselves whether they can continue to govern at all. The question should be asked after new elections. Because things cannot go on like this,” she added.

It would be very unlikely that the AfD could form a state government in the other parties, as it would have great difficulty finding allies.

AfD branches are classified by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as suspected right-wing extremist and the party's top candidate in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has been fined twice for using a Nazi slogan.

In Germany, state elections are held every five years. The election dates can vary from state to state. In the German state of Brandenburg, the elections will take place on September 22nd.