AfD on a roll ahead of state elections
Just days before the elections in the East German states of Saxony and Thuringia, the AfD, recently categorised as a suspected right-wing extremist party by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is ahead in the polls. It stands to win around 30 percent, followed by the CDU and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) in third place. Commentators see a rocky road ahead.
BSW could be unavoidable
CDU and SPD may come to depend on the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), the Guardian predicts:
“After the regional elections on 1 September, talks will take place designed to cobble together coalitions to govern in Thuringia and Saxony – and to keep out the AfD. The firewall still exists for that party. The irony — and the hypocrisy — is that the remaining parties will be forced to do a deal with Wagenknecht, an equally dangerous but smarter representative of the new far right. The CDU and SPD (if it gets over the threshold) will hold their noses, but they may have no option but to cut a deal with her.”
Wind in the sails of the extremes
Právo looks at the role played by the knife attack in North Rhine-Westfalia:
“Even though the political map had already been drawn up, Solingen will put more wind in the sails of the protest parties AfD and BSW at the weekend. And we can expect to see the full impact of such events in the parliamentary elections next autumn. If the traffic light coalition does not manage to instate a visible shift in migration policy, the wave of protest from the East could ultimately spill over into the Bundestag. Every further Solingen helps the political extremes on the march to government, a march that will begin this Sunday in Erfurt, Thuringia. ”
End in sight for coalition in Berlin
Radio Kommersant FM sees Germany on the brink of political upheaval:
“The parties of the ruling coalitionare in danger of falling short of the five-percent hurdle that gives them a seat in the state parliaments. ... This will create a paradoxical situation. In order for a federal state not to be left completely without a government, the Christian Democrats will have to enter a coalition with one of the anti-system parties — either with devotees of Sahra Wagenknecht or, in breach of every taboo, with the AfD. All in all, Germany stands before a dramatic and unpredictable new political season, which will come to a head with the federal elections in September 2025. It would be a miracle if the current coalition were to stay in power.”
