JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Voters in two states in eastern Germany have given the country's largest far-right party their best results since the country's Nazi era. And while they were just regional elections, their results underscore how popular far-right politics are becoming in Germany. NPR's Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz has this report.
SUMMERS: Voters in two states in eastern Germany have given the country's largest far-right party their best results since the country's Nazi era. And while they were just regional elections, their results underscore how popular far-right politics are becoming in Germany. NPR's Berlin correspondent Rob Schmitz has this report.
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Germany's Alternative for Deutschland - or AfD - Party, won nearly a third of the seats in Parliament in the state of Thuringia, coming in first place, and more than 30% of seats next door in Saxony. The nationalist party routinely blames immigrants for Germany's problems. It became popular six years ago during a spike in migration. But then, during the pandemic, the party's popularity waned. But with a war on European soil and an energy crisis, the party is becoming popular again, even though it's under domestic surveillance.
It's seen by the German state as a threat to the Constitution. This is a fact that a television host for public broadcaster ARD recited to Bjorn Hocke, the head of the AfD in Thuringia, while the results came in on election night.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BJORN HOCKE: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: "Do we have to drag that up again?" asked Hocke.
"Well, it's a fact," responded the host.
Raising his voice, Hocke then asked, "well, what do you want us to talk about? Stop stigmatizing me. We're now the No. 1 party in Thuringia," said Hocke, "and you're calling a third of the state's voters right-wing extremists."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HOCKE: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: The silver-haired politician with bright blue eyes is used to this scrutiny. The former history teacher has been on trial twice for using forbidden Nazi slogans during his party's campaign. His party is so poisonous inside German politics that no other party has agreed to govern with it, and that means the AfD will likely not be able to take part in governing coalitions in either state. But with a third of the seats in Parliament in both states, the party will have a big influence on policy - something that worries politicians like Omid Nouripour, general secretary of Germany's Green Party.
OMID NOURIPOUR: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: "My thoughts tonight are with those who are worried by the AfD's success," said Nouripour, "and they're with our country's immigrants, who don't know what's going to happen to them."
AfD Party members have called for mass deportations of anyone with an immigrant background, and they've done so at a time of economic stagnation in Germany, with a war on European soil and with energy prices at historic levels. Sudha David-Wilp of the German Marshall Fund says this love affair with the AfD does not mix well with what Germany needs to get its economy out of the doldrums.
SUDHA DAVID-WILP: Berlin needs to make clear to its electorate that Germany is facing demographic decline. And companies and society - they need skilled workers, and the success of the AfD is not going to be helpful for companies that are trying to retain and attract talent.
SCHMITZ: David-Wilp also points out that the rising popularity of the AfD and of the BSW, a left-wing party led by a former Communist Party member, which also wants to curb immigration, means that next year's national election in Germany could see a shift to the right. AfD co-chair Alice Weidel agrees.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ALICE WEIDEL: (Speaking German).
SCHMITZ: In an interview with broadcaster ZDF, Weidel said German voters are tired of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and that these results are a swan song for his three-party coalition government. "Pack your bags," she said.
And while far-right nor far-left parties are poised to do as well in a national election, it's clear to, say, political analysts that, in the wake of years of unchecked migration and a stagnating economy, Germany, like much of Europe, is shifting to more conservative politics.
Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Berlin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
