East Germans Lean Toward Extremes in State Elections

The far-right Alternative for Germany was on course on Sunday to become the strongest party in a state election for the first time, in Thuringia, and it was running a close second to mainstream conservatives in a second state, Saxony, according to projections based on early results.

A new party rooted in the extreme left, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, was running third in both states. But neither party was expected to be able to run either state’s government after coalition negotiations that could take weeks.

The elections in the two states in the former East Germany were being closely watched in Berlin as a measure of the rising strength of extremist parties, left and right, as well as of the weakening position of the centrist parties that make up the current federal coalition. It was the first time since the Nazi era that a far-right party had won a state election.

The returns were seen as a worrying indicator of the health and future of German democracy, and they were likely to intensify a quandary over whether and how mainstream parties can isolate extremists and keep them from entering government.

All parties have said they would shun the Alternative for Germany, know as the AfD, which they consider as dangerous to democracy. That could leave the Christian Democratic Union, which may end up running both state governments, as the main beneficiary of the vote among traditional mainstream parties.

While the results may augur well for the Christian Democrats for the next federal elections, scheduled for September 2025, they are certain to add to the troubles of the three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition, which performed badly.