What’s more, voters in both states, according to surveys, said the AfD would be best placed to represent the interests of people in eastern Germany and to pursue better asylum and refugee policies. On other issues too, including on social protection and fighting crime, the party ranked among the top two parties in terms of voters’ trust.
In sum, it looks increasingly like the AfD has entrenched itself in the East and has become what Germans call a Volkspartei , or “people’s party,” a title that was, until recently, reserved for mainstream parties like the SPD and CDU.
5. Building coalition governments may be an extended drama
It’s not the first time that politicians are expected to be put to the test during coalition formations in the East. After the previous state election in Thuringia in 2019, a major political crisis erupted when Thomas Kemmerich, an FDP politician, was elected premier with the support of the AfD.
The cooperation with the AfD led to a massive nationwide outcry, forcing Kemmerich to step back. He was replaced by the Left party’s Bodo Ramelow, who presided over a minority government in the state.
That episode underscored the difficulty forming coalition governments without the AfD in an increasingly fractured political landscape across the East.
Despite the AfD’s strong performance in both Saxony and Thuringia on Sunday, the party is unlikely to take power because all other parties say they won’t form coalitions with it. In Thuringia, therefore, the only realistic majority government to be formed is an alliance between the CDU, BSW and the Left party. The CDU has, however, in a party resolution officially ruled out any cooperation with the Left party.
Given the complicated dynamics, it could take months for new coalitions to form. The AfD, meanwhile, is bound to make things as difficult as possible — depicting its exclusion from the coalitions as the disenfranchisement of its voters.