Domain Registration

EU election: AfD surge in eastern Germany sets up clash of cultures

  • May 27, 2019

In Sunday’s European Parliament elections, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 11% of the vote in Germany — almost 2% less than the right-wing populists scored in federal elections in 2017.

Although the party finished in fourth place nationally, it fared far better in Germany’s formerly communist eastern states. 

In Saxony and Brandenburg, the AfD beat Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) into second place. In Thuringia, it was only 2% behind.

Worringly for Merkel, all three states go to the polls once more in regional elections in autumn.

Despite huge investments since German reunification in 1990, former East German states still suffer from higher unemployment, lower living standards and lower wages than the rest of the country.

The AfD tapped into voter frustration by branding mass migration to Germany and the nation’s transition to renewable energies as clear economic threats in a region where coal is king and the vast majority of citizens are ethnically German.

“Eastern Germans are wired differently, first and foremost because the classic social setup of the [former] West is nonexistent in the [former] East,” Alexander Gauland, co-leader of the AfD, told reporters on Monday.  

The party’s hand had been strengthened, he said, in “freedom-loving” parts of the country. 

Read more: How the far-right AfD taps into Germany’s East-West divide

Divided nation

Gauland noted that the result showed a “divided Germany.” Indeed, the party’s anti-immigration stance did not resonate in western regions.

Young, urban voters plumped for the climate-friendly promises of the Green Party, which secured 20.5% of the vote. That meant the Greens finished in second place [behind the CDU] in a nationwide vote for the first time in their history, overtaking the Social Democrats (SPD), the junior partners in Merkel’s coalition government.

“This was a vote for protecting the climate,” said Greens MEP Sven Giegold.

Climate change is shaping up to be the main battleground as Gauland declared the Greens to be his party’s “main enemy.” 

“The Greens will destroy this country and our job must and will be to fight the Greens,” he said.

Read more: EU elections: Wake-up call for centrists amid euroskepticism, climate inaction

Eastern platform

While the Greens won the hearts and minds of young voters in the West, the AfD has positioned it as an “advocate of the Eastern German population,” Alexander Häusler, a sociologist at the University of Applied Sciences in Dusseldorf, who researches right-wing extremism and populism, told DW.

With the prospect of the first AfD state premier being elected in the autumn now firmaly on the cards, Germany’s political establishment is reflecting on how to best reposition itself in the former East to stop the rising populist tide.

“It won’t be a quick and easy task for us as the CDU if we find ourselves in the center [of political issues],” Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of the CDU, told reporters on Monday, referring to the party’s struggles in eastern Germany.

That’s especially the case given the lack of faith in both the CDU and the SPD to advocate for positions that resonate, Florian Hartleb, a political scientist researching European populist and right-wing movements, told DW. Just one in four voters believe that Germany’s governing parties have the best answers to questions about Germany’s future, according to a recent survey by German pollster Infratest dimap.

As such, the results of Sunday’s European elections are a precursor to a German political future divided between the AfD in the East, and the Greens in the West — with Germany’s traditional political parties struggling for relevance, said Häusler.

“The Greens and the AfD are waging a cultural battle,” he said. “On the one hand, there are those who support an open, pluralistic, minority-protecting, cosmopolitan society. And on the right, a defensive, protective stance.”

  • European Parliament election results, the main countries at a glance

    Italy: Populist surge continues

    Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s far-right League took 33.6% of the vote, a jump from the 17% claimed by the anti-immigration party in 2018 national elections. The results may change the balance of power in the League’s fragile coalition with 5-Star, which slumped to 16.6% compared to with 32% in national elections last year. The opposition Democratic Party won 23.5%.

  • European Parliament election results, the main countries at a glance

    Spain: Traditional parties buck trend and bounce back

    Unlike much of the continent, Spain’s traditional center-left and center-right parties enjoyed a renaissance. The governing Socialists picked up 33% of the vote. That makes the PSOE the strongest social democrat delegation in the European Parliament. The conservative, pro-EU Popular Party won 20%, while Ciudadanos took 12.2%. The new far-right Vox party took only 6.2%; Podemos barely cracked 10%.

  • European Parliament election results, the main countries at a glance

    Germany: Main parties suffer losses, Greens surge

    Angela Merkel’s CDU and its CSU ally won 28% of the vote, down 7 points from 2014. The Social Democrats continued to plunge, dropping 11 points to only 15.6%. The Greens emerged a real winner, doubling their support from the last polls to 20.7%. The euroskeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured 10.6% percent, a notable dip from its 2017 general election performance.

  • European Parliament election results, the main countries at a glance

    France: Len Pen on top, but most seats to pro-EU parties

    Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) claimed first place overall, but RN’s 23.5% of the vote represented a slight loss of support compared to 2014. The En Marche-led coalition won 22.5%, closer to Le Pen than polls had predicted. The Republicans and Socialists, France’s traditional heavyweights, continued their political collapse, while the Greens jumped to third.

  • European Parliament election results, the main countries at a glance

    UK: Brexit Party first, Conservatives and Labour punished

    Britain emerged from the vote polarized as it tries to leave the EU by October. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party took first place with 31.7%, although the pro-EU Liberal Democrats also enjoyed a surge in support. Both the Conservatives and Labour were hammered, receiving 8.7% and 14%, respectively. The UK’s latest batch of MEPs will vacate the European Parliament when or if the country leaves the EU.

  • European Parliament election results, the main countries at a glance

    Hungary: Fidesz strong in polls, seeking a group in parliament

    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told supporters that his Fidesz party, which won 13 of Hungary’s 21 seats in the EU Parliament, “will cooperate with everyone who wants to stop immigration.” Fidesz was suspended from the EPP bloc over the deterioration in the rule of law in Hungary. Orban did not address speculation that Fidesz could join Italy’s Matteo Salvini’s far-right bloc, the ENF.

  • European Parliament election results, the main countries at a glance

    The Netherlands: Socialists win, anti-EU parties lose ground

    Frans Timmermans, the center-left Socialist and Democrats (SD) bloc’s top candidate, led his PvdA party to the top spot in the Netherlands with 19% of the vote . He’s called for progressive parties in the EU Parliament such as the Liberals, Greens and Socialist to work together. The Netherlands’ two right-wing populist parties secured a combined 15% of the vote.

    Author: Chase Winter


Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW’s editors send out a selection of the day’s hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/eu-election-afd-surge-in-eastern-germany-sets-up-clash-of-cultures/a-48909859?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom

Related News

Search

Get best offer

Booking.com
%d bloggers like this: