The far right flies to Germany, but not enough to govern. Alternative for Germany (Afd) doubles and triples, respectively, the previous results in the eastern German states: Brandenburg and Saxony. A result that risks rebounding on the balance of national politics, influencing above all two issues: the election of the new SPD leader in December and the leadership of Merkel's current heir at the helm of the CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
In any case, at Brandenburg - the land surrounding Berlin - the Social Democrats of the SPD are confirmed as the first party, above 27%, despite a drop of more than four percentage points. Afd instead reaches 22,5%, achieving a real exploit (in 2014 it was 12,2%), but failing the overtaking feared by many.
as to Saxony – the region with the capital Dresden and the more populous of the two in which the vote was taken – the Christian Democrats of the CDU remain in command with 32%. In the projections, the party of the expiring chancellor, Angela Merkel, loses eight percentage points. In this case, the AfD narrows the gap reaching up to 27,5% (from 9,7% in previous consultations).
In both regions, the Greens continued their positive trend driven by German concerns about climate change, gaining 10% in Brandenburg (+4 points) and 8,5% in Saxony (+2 points).
“We came to stay, now we're starting to get serious”, commented the head of Alternative for Germany in Brandenburg, Andreas Kablitz.
With the Merkel era winding down and the worst data in recent years coming from the economy, almost 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the last regional elections paint a still highly divided Germany.
In the West, the traditional parties, headed by the Christian Democrats and the Greens, are holding on, while in the far less wealthy East, the far right is gaining ground by leaps and bounds.
Afd's next goal is to confirm the trend also in Thuringia, where the vote will take place at the end of October.
