Alternative for Germany beats Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, who had their worst result in a national election in the party’s history.
The conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union finished first in Sunday’s European election in Germany, winning 30.2 percent of the vote according to a projection for German public television.
While the conservative victory was expected, the real race in Germany was for runner-up.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was projected to finish second with 16 percent, a gain of 5 percentage points compared to the 2019 EU election.
If the result holds, it will be seen as a big success for a party that has been beset by scandals in recent months.
The party’s top two candidates for EU election were implicated in a series of sensational allegations of misconduct involving suspected espionage and potential Russian influence. Most recently, the party’s lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, was forced to stop campaigning after he defended members of Hitler’s Waffen-SS as not “automatically” criminals.
One of the party’s national leaders, Tino Chrupalla, called it a “historic result.” Across Europe, far-right, nationalist and populist parties are projected to make sizeable gains.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) is projected to finish third with 13.9 percent, its worst result in a national election since the party was founded well over a century ago.
The Greens, who rule in a federal coalition with the SPD and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), are projected to finish with 11.9 percent, an 8.6 percentage point drop in support compared to the 2019 European election, making the party the biggest loser of the election.
The FDP, the smallest coalition member, was projected to drop to 5 percent, near the threshold the party will need to re-enter the Bundestag in parliamentary elections next year.
The poor results for the parties that make up Germany’s coalition government are likely to inject further conflict into the already-fractious coalition, renewing doubts over its stability.
Germany’s new populist party, Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which combines left-wing economic policies with right-wing cultural views, arrived on the political landscape with a projected result of 6.1 percent. The party was founded by Sahra Wagenknecht, the longtime face of The Left party, which has been in crisis since her departure and was projected to end up with 2.7 percent.
