Germany – AfD party

Germany’s anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is on course for victory in the eastern state of Thuringia, according to projections.

The AfD is set to win 32.8% of the vote, says a projection for public broadcaster ARD, nine points ahead of the conservative CDU, and far in front of Germany’s three governing parties.

If confirmed, it would give the far right its first vote win in a state parliament since World War Two, although it has little hope of forming a government in Thuringia.

The far right is on the cusp of winning the most votes in German state elections for the first time since the Nazis.

For some in Germany, the rise of Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a literal nightmare.

But others, particularly in the east, say the AfD is a chance for change.

All year, the temperature has been rising in German politics and Sunday’s vote in Thuringia and Saxony may be the boiling point.

The anti-immigration, anti-globalist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party is set to achieve its best ever election result as it contests two regional elections in the states of Saxony and Thuringia on Sunday, September 1st.

If confirmed, such results would signal a spectacular rejection of Germany’s ruling parties and could strengthen populist voices across Europe.

Germany’s hard-right AfD party has been accused of employing Nazi symbolism in an election campaign poster featuring a man and a woman with arms outstretched in what critics have said clearly resembles a Hitler salute.

Their fingertips meet to form a roof over three fair-haired children alongside the slogan “We’ll Protect Your Children”.

The outrage caused by the German interior ministry’s decision to ban the right-wing Compact magazine is not dying down as more and more legal experts weigh in on the subject. It is not surprising that lawmakers of the leftist-liberal government are pleased to see a government-critical media outlet silenced, but experts on constitutional law have made it clear that the ban amounts to nothing less than an attack on the freedom of the press.

I taught humanities to hundreds of students at two international schools in Germany over a period of several years. My primary subject was history and each time it came to covering World War II, British kids were excited; American kids were broadly well-informed; and the German kids dreaded it. Their heads dropped at the very mention of the unit. I vividly remember Laura, an 8th grader, say, “We’re the bad guys and everyone hates us. We did nothing—our parents weren’t even born.” That is quite a weight to carry before a single class had been taught.

In the aftermath of the European elections last Sunday, the German establishment has been trying to come to terms with radically altered political realities. Despite advance polls predicting a notable shift to the Right, the result still shook the country. Less than a third of voters stuck with the parties of the ruling centre-left coalition, and the Right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) became the second largest political force after the conservative Union. Young people in particular defied expectations, many turning their backs on the Greens and switching to the Right.