Electoral setback for far-right after protests

The German far-right suffered an electoral setback on Sunday following demonstrations against its program on an unprecedented scale in the country, although it had seemed to have an unstoppable upward momentum for months.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party lost its bid to win a second cantonal presidency during local elections in the Saale-Orla district, in the East German region of Thuringia. His candidate, Uwe Thrum, won just 47.6% of the vote in Sunday’s second round of voting, improving on his first-round score by just 1.9 points, while his conservative rival benefited from a strong carryover of votes to finish on 52.4%.

The defeat of the AfD, which had started as favourites, was achieved “Thank you for mobilizing civil society”, number two estimate in the Thuringia region, social democrat George Mayer. The election was a test at a time when the party and its opponents have been rocked for nearly two weeks by mass protests against what its program calls racist.

More than 800,000 people took to the streets throughout the weekend, particularly in Hamburg and Düsseldorf, to denounce the AfD and the threats to democracy they believe it represents, organizers said Sunday. Last weekend, organizers estimated the number of participants at 1.4 million.

Evacuation Plan

This mobilization of civil society was provoked by a press revelation that caused an earthquake in Germany: members of the AfD, an anti-immigration and anti-system party, discussed at the end of last year a plan for the mass expulsion from the country of foreigners and “incompatible citizens”. The first demonstration was carried out. A poll by the Insa Institute recently reported a drop in voting intentions for the AfD to 21.5% from 23% previously.

events “has an effect”The institute’s director, Hermann Binkert, speculated in the daily Build. Still, the Afd is the second most popular party in Germany in the polls, behind the conservative opposition of Social-Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It is due to the increase in immigration and the record unpopularity of the governing coalition in power.

According to the daily FAZ, 130 to 150 new members join the far-right party every day, whose number of activists could increase from 40,000 to 60,000 members by the end of the year. “We must face the facts: the evil genie is out of the bottle”Also condemned this week on a daily basis Die Zeit Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who had tried to downplay the party’s growth so far.

Anxiety in the financial world

AfD is “Danger to Democracy”and their arrival at responsibilities “will ruin Germany economically”, also warned the liberal finance minister, Christian Lindner, on Sunday. The economic world is also warning of the dangers associated with progressing AfD’s thesis, emphasizing its need for foreign labor and international trade. The party recently indicated that it wants a referendum to leave the EU.

“People will come only if they feel good about us and only then will we remain attractive sustainably”, judged Peter Adrian, president of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry DIHK. In this context, more and more voices are calling for the AfD to cut public funding, especially since the party is in the crosshairs of the intelligence services. Its regional branches in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt were placed under surveillance because their positions were considered too radical.