The far-right Alternative for Germany party won the country’s first county on Sunday, June 25, in a rural area that once belonged to the former East Germany. Even more serious is that this party’s victory comes as German opinion polls show its support across the country at record levels.
The second round of elections in the county of Schöneberg pitted Alternative for Germany candidate Robert Sesselmann against centre-right opponent Jürgen Koper.
Official figures showed Sesselman, who had taken a wide lead in the first round two weeks ago, won 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party won the country’s first county on Sunday, June 25, in a rural area that once belonged to the former East Germany. Even more serious is that this party’s victory comes as German opinion polls show its support across the country at record levels.
The second round of elections in the county of Schöneberg pitted Alternative for Germany candidate Robert Sesselmann against centre-right opponent Jürgen Koper.
Official figures showed Sesselman, who had taken a wide lead in the first round two weeks ago, won 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent. Schöneberg has a relatively small population of 56,800, but the victory is a symbolic milestone for the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party.
Polls within Germany have put the far-right party at between 18% and 20% in national surveys lately.
The governing coalition of Chancellor Olaf Solz’s center-left party with the environmentalist Greens and the Liberal Democrats is in deep trouble over a high influx of immigration, a plan to replace millions of home heating systems and a reputation for infighting as inflation remains high in the country.
Keper’s centre-right opposition Union bloc is leading in national polls, with low support rates of just under 30%.
We remind you that the AfD entered the German parliament for the first time in 2017 after an intense anti-immigration campaign, due to a large influx of refugees into Europe in previous years.
Lately the German Far Right has strongly opposed Germany’s support for Ukraine
Despite being largely shunned by the mainstream parties, it has established itself as a resilient force, particularly in the less prosperous former East German region. An AfD candidate entered the second round of the mayoral election in Schwerin, the capital of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, but was defeated.
Schöneberg is located in South Thuringia, one of three eastern regions that will hold parliamentary elections in 2024.
The AfD has been put under the microscope of Germany’s intelligence service. Its regional branch in Thuringia is run by a figure on the party’s hard right, Björn Höcke, who was recently charged by prosecutors with inciting violence in a 2021 speech by using a Nazi slogan.
The climate in Europe to be precise, inflation and the war in Ukraine combined with the uncontrolled influx of illegal immigrants, has displeased a large part of European citizens, and this must be addressed by the current governments in the EU.
