The far right takes hold – DW – 06/10/2024

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) improved by 1.1 points to 23.7% and its Bavarian sister Christian Social Union (CSU) repeated the result of five years ago with 6.3% support, while the Alternative for Germany (AfD) improved by 4.9 points compared to the elections five years ago, according to the official provisional result released this Monday.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) fell 1.9 points to 13.9% and the Greens, a partner in the current government coalition, fell 8.6 points to 11.9%. The third German government partner, the Liberal Party (FDP), lost two tenths to 5.2%.

The “Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht – Reason and Justice” (BSW), recently founded around left-wing deputy Sahra Wagenknecht, added 6.2% in its first European elections, while her former party lost 2.8 points to 2.7%.

More right-wing, more extreme right-wing and more electoral participation

Thus, of the 96 European Parliament representatives assigned to Germany, the conservatives will contribute the same number as in 2019, with 23 for the CDU and 6 for the CSU.

The AfD increases from 11 to 15 representatives; the SPD loses two, from 16 to 14; and the Greens will have nine fewer, 12 instead of 21.

The populist left of the BSW would get 6 representatives, the liberals of the FDP would retain their 5 seats and the left would lose two, with 3 seats instead of 5.

The remaining seats will be distributed between the Free Electors (3), Volt (3), The Party (2), Animal Welfare Party (1), Ecological-Democratic Party (ÖDP, 1), Family (1) and the Party of Progress (PDF, 1).

Electoral participation was 64.8%, 3.4 points higher than in the 2019 European elections, when it was 61.4%.

Victory of the far right in the east

The AfD won big victories in eastern German states where local elections were held parallel to the EU elections. In Brandenburg, which surrounds the national capital Berlin, the AfD won the biggest vote with 25.7%. This represents an increase of 9.8 percentage points compared to the elections five years ago. The conservative CDU and SPD came in second and third.

In local elections in neighbouring Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the AfD knocked the CDU out of first place with 25.6% of the vote, meaning its share almost doubled compared to the last local election. The CDU came second with 24%.

The AfD was also projected to make significant gains in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, which, like Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, was part of the former East Germany.

Government rejects early elections “like in France”

Germany’s final official results will be announced on July 3 in a public session in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament.

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on Chancellor Scholz’s ruling coalition, with the three parties together winning less than a third of the vote.

Markus Söder, minister-president in the state of Bavaria and leader of the conservative CSU party, called for national parliamentary elections as soon as possible “like in France” in statements to broadcaster n-tv.

Earlier, CDU Secretary General Karsten Linnemann suggested Scholz should call a vote of confidence in the Bundestag and blamed his government for the AfD’s results.

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit reacted in Berlin, saying, “The election date is set for autumn next year and we plan to implement it.” He insisted, “At no time, not even for a second, did the idea arise that new elections could now be held in Germany.”

RML (EFE, AFP, dpa, last updated: 12:23 CET)