Crucial elections in two eastern German states in light of the rise of the extreme right – live | Germany

According to the first polls, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party is narrowly in the lead in Saxony, closely followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany in second place.

ZDF election day poll Saxony

Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 32 %

Alternative for Germany (AfD): 31.5%

Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW): 11.5%

Social Democratic Party (SPD): 7.5%

The Left: 4.5%

The right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has taken the lead in the first post-election polls in Thuringia.

Thuringia ZDF election day poll

Alternative for Germany (AfD): 33.5%

Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 24.5%

Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW): 14.5%

The Left: 11.5%

Wagenknecht, a former high-ranking member of the far-right party Die Linke, founded the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).

Wagenknecht was born in the former GDR to an Iranian father and a German mother. Her party is now well on its way to becoming the kingmaker in today's state elections in Thuringia and Saxony.

She condemned “unchecked migration,” promised higher pensions and declared that she wanted to end military support for Ukraine.

On Thursday, a few days before the election, she was sprayed with pink paint at a campaign event in Thuringia.

Deborah Cole

Three state elections in Germany this month represent a stress test for the country’s democracy, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and a new populist left-conservative force are likely to be extremely successful following the fatal knife attack allegedly carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker.

Today voters go to the polls in Saxony And Thuringia.

Brandenburgthe rural region around Berlin, votes on September 22nd.

In both regions, the AfD offshoot has been classified by the security authorities as a “convinced right-wing extremist” and the other parties have promised to keep him out of power through a democratic “firewall” by refusing any cooperation.

The election campaign included the remarkable rise of an eight-month-old party, formed around a veteran left-wing radical agitator, which Sahra Wagenknech Alliancet (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance).

Her mix of migration scepticism, opposition to NATO, support for high taxes on the rich and opposition to military aid for Ukraine has struck a chord with voters.

Given the complex mathematics of coalition building in a fragmented political landscape, polls suggest that BSW could emerge as kingmaker in any of the three states.

You can read the whole story here.

Before today’s elections, polls see the extreme right Alternative for Germany (AfD) at the top in Thuringia and the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with a narrow lead in Saxony.

AfD threat increases nervousness ahead of elections in two eastern German states

Deborah Cole

Elections are coming up in two eastern German states in which right-wing extremists could come to power. Alternative for Germany (AfD) records its first electoral victories at the state level and a new populist force on the left is able to establish itself firmly.

The results in Saxony And Thuringiawhich are due to take place this evening are likely to be catastrophic for the three governing parties in the Chancellery Olaf Scholz's centre-left-led coalition government in Berlin, one year before the next federal election in Germany.

Many voters in the east say they are increasingly disillusioned with mainstream politics more than thirty years after the country's reunification. The ongoing effects of structural decay, depopulation and sluggish economic performance reinforce the feeling that they are still second-class citizens.

The anti-immigrant, anti-Islam AfD has spent the final week of its election campaign spreading the message that the government is “abandoning” its citizens, while capitalizing on the shock and outrage over the fatal stabbing in the western city of Solingen, allegedly carried out by a rejected Syrian asylum seeker.

You can read the whole story here.

Who is Björn Höcke?

Deborah Cole

The most feared man in German politics cleared his throat and took a sip of water, while his audience fell silent in anticipation and held up their mobile phones to record. “I have to protect my voice in my first speech as Prime Minister,” Björn Höcke he said with a grin. The crowd went wild.

The 52-year-old Höcke is co-chairman of the regional association of the right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Thuringia, which is voting together with Saxony today.

He has been a member of the AfD since it was founded as a eurosceptic party in 2013 and is seen as a driving force behind its increasing turn towards more radical xenophobic and Islamophobic sentiments, as he questions the foundations of Germany's democratic order and post-war atonement for the Holocaust.

Germany, which has long prided itself on consensus-based politics and learned from the lessons of its Nazi past, will be watching its state's performance most closely when the results roll in on election night.

In a small square lined with communist-era apartment blocks, about 800 people seemed transfixed as Höcke railed against the government in Berlin and the judicial authorities, who have repeatedly brought charges of sedition against him. Höcke, who grew up in West Germany, derisively calls the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution the “Stasi.”

His followers were captivated when he put forward the central theme of the movement: the center-left government in Berlin wanted to “abolish you, the German people” and “replace you with a multicultural society.”

You can read the whole story here.

Good evening and welcome to a special edition of the Europe blog with a look at today's elections in two eastern German states: Thuringia and Saxony.

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