Germany's extremist AfD party sends shockwaves through Europe with regional win

The results of the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia shocked Germany's middle class: the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), led by Björn Höcke, came first in the East German state of Thuringia where it won nearly 33% of the vote and second in Saxony with almost 31%.

The Guardian’s Berlin correspondent Deborah Cole said, "There is a feeling of a political earthquake. It has sent aftershocks through the country, and everyone is grappling with the consequences.”

On the left, the Pro-Putin Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) won a decent share of the vote both in Saxony (11.8%) and Thuringia (15.8%) but this seemed to be little consolation to the German mainstream.

But despite gaining ground in the region, the party is still under surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist collective.

In Saxony, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) received the most votes with 31.9%, but the AfD were snapping at its heels.

Meanwhile, in Thuringia, the AfD was way ahead of the CDU, which won just 23.6% of the vote.  None of the three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's unpopular coalition government gained more than single-digits in an unequivocal message from voters.

AfD leader Björn Höcke was clearly over the moon with the result. Even the fact that proceedings are currently underway against him for using prohibited Nazi symbols during his rallies, could not dampen his spirits.

In July, Björn Höcke was on trial for using unconstitutional slogans. In May, Höcke was fined $14,000 for braying "Everything for Germany," at an AfD rally in 2021. The phrase is associated with the SA stormtroopers, who were pivotal in the Nazis rise to power.

According to the Criminal Code, the slogan was a symbol of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations. While the fine was hefty, Höcke escaped a three year jail term and declared himself to be "completely innocent," according to the BBC.

Undeterred, Höcke used the slogan again in December 2023. In July of this year, the AfD leader was sentenced to a total fine of €16,900, but he appealed, as MDR reports. His defence rests somewhat delicately on the fact he had not known it was a Nazi slogan.

In a bid to clamp down on the spread of extremism,  Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser banned the magazine Compact ahead of the regional elections. Compact is a controversial nationalist magazine which Faeser described as a “central mouthpiece of the extreme right-wing scene.”

Compact has been listed as "confirmed right-wing extremist" by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2021.

To Faeser's dismay, a court suspended the ban until a final verdict is reached and the magazine went back into circulation, enjoying the extra publicity.

According to the Financial Times, Wolfgang Kubicki, deputy leader of the FDP, the smallest party in Olaf Scholz's coalition said, "Frau Faeser should go and think about whether she really wants to continue campaigning for the Alternative to Germany."

However, Faeser is determined the ban will be reinstated. “We will not let up in our fight against the enemies of the constitution,” she said.

In 2018, according to Deutschlandfunk, Compact boss Elsässer made a statement that linked the AfD with right-wing extremist organizations, groups or associations such as Pegida, "One Percent" and the Identitarian Movement.

Elsässer said that the AfD, Compact, the Identitarian Movement, "One Percent" and Pegida were like five fingers that could join together to form a fist. The Compact boss is a welcome guest on the AfD stage.

The votes of AfD voters are not protest votes. They feel that the AfD recognizes their concerns and needs, according to ZDF. Now, The Economist is predicting that the AfD is set for sweeping gains in the next German state elections.

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