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The far-right Alternative for Germany party on Sunday was on its way to achieving its first electoral victory in a state election. Its projected victory in the state of Thuringia coincided with a likely second-place finish to mainstream conservatives in the state of Saxony, according to forecasts based on early results.
A new extreme left party, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, was running third in both state elections.
Neither of the extremist parties is expected to have enough votes to run the state governments without negotiations to form coalitions with other parties, media reports indicated.
In the German capital of Berlin, the elections in the two states of the former East Germany are being scrutinized as a sign of the growing popularity of extremist parties on both sides of the political spectrum. Their rise coincides with a weakening of centrist parties that comprise the national coalition.
Other parties have said they wouldn’t work with the AfD because they consider it dangerous to democracy. The political squabbling may benefit the Christian Democratic Union in running both states.
Early results showed the AfD as first in Thuringia at 31.2% and a close second in Saxony, at 30.4%. They showed the Christian Democratic Union, the main opposition party nationally, as first in Saxony with nearly 31.6% and second in Thuringia at 24.5%. The BSW was running third with 15.7% in Thuringia and 12% in Saxony.
The parties making up Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s embattled federal government performed poorly. His Social Democrats are projected to reach the 5% threshold to enter the Parliament in both states, with 6.8% in Thuringia and 8.2% in Saxony. The Greens are expected to barely make the threshold in Saxony, but fall short in Thuringia. The Free Democrats were polling in both states at less than 1.5%.
The party Die Linke, or The Left, the inheritor of the old Communist Party, received roughly 12.4% in Thuringia, where current leader Bodo Ramelow is the prime minister, and only 4% in Saxony.
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