BERLIN (AP) — A leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany said on Monday that her party is no longer solely concentrated in eastern Germany after achieving strong state election performances in the country’s more prosperous west, declaring that “we have arrived.”
The 10-year-old Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is most prominent in the former communist east. However, co-leader Alice Weidel emphasized that the party’s recent gains in the western states of Hesse and Bavaria demonstrate that the AfD is now a major party across Germany. She stated, “AfD is no longer an eastern phenomenon, but has become a major all-German party. So we have arrived.”
The state elections held on Sunday, amidst Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular three-party government, were influenced by public discontent with persistent squabbling at the national level and the desire to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Germany.
While Germany’s mainstream conservative Union bloc secured victory in the two elections it was already leading, AfD emerged as one of the day’s biggest winners. It captured 18.4% of the vote in Hesse, finishing second — the first time it has achieved this in a state election in the west. Furthermore, it recorded its best result in a western state election, surpassing its previous record of 15.1% in southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2016.
In Bavaria, AfD made gains and finished third with 14.6% of the vote.
AfD was initially founded in 2013, with its primary focus on opposing eurozone rescue packages. However, it gained momentum due to the influx of refugees and migrants in 2015, and entered Germany’s national parliament in 2017.
Recent national polls indicate that the party is in second place with approximately 20% support, significantly higher than the 10.3% it obtained in the most recent federal election in 2021.
Despite its success, AfD faces opposition from other parties who refuse to engage with it while blaming each other for the rise of the far right. Weidel argued that excluding AfD from government responsibility is undemocratic, stating, “I predict that disdain and contempt for Alternative for Germany won’t be tenable in the long run.”
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