East Germany votes for right-wing AfD, against Ukraine war

Sunday’s elections in two East German states, Saxony and Thuringia, delivered a seismic shift in the political landscape, underscoring the region’s increasing discontent with the federal government’s policies on migration and the Ukraine war.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has emerged as the dominant force in the region, significantly outpolling the combined vote share of the ruling coalition parties — Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) — by a staggering margin of 3 to 1.

The party-by-party results show that 81% and 82% of voters in both East German states are dissatisfied with the federal government’s ruling coalition parties.

Mainstream media widely portrayed the AfD as a neo-Nazi organization in the run-up to the polls, a charge vehemently denied by its leaders, who cast the dissident party in the mold of the 1980s conservativism of the late chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Despite that media drumbeat, according to polls, AfD is now Germany’s number two party and the most popular among young voters.

Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament and an AfD leader in Saxony, wrote on X: “This election changes the political landscape in Germany. It will be an exciting autumn in national politics in Germany thanks to the AfD results in the East.” (Asia Times interviewed Krah in June.)

Voter turnout in Saxony and Thuringia was notably higher than in the 2019 elections, signaling an uptick in political engagement that likely reflects the electorate’s perception of the heightened stakes.

Turnout rose from 66.6% to 73.5% in Saxony and was up from 64.9% to 73.5% in Thuringia. The AfD reportedly benefitted from a surge of support from young voters.

Saxony: tight race with a clear message

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