EU election: AfD wins in eastern Germany amid record turnout

• German voters turned out in record numbers on Sunday, reaching 64.8%
• Far-right AfD gained the most votes in eastern Germany
• Results continue to trickle in from all 26 EU member states

Here's a look at the latest developments following the European Parliament elections on Monday, June 10:

06/10/2024June 10, 2024

German turnout highest since reunification

More Germans came out to vote in the EU election on Sunday than at any point since reunification, the electoral commission reported on Monday.

Turnout reached 64.8%, 3.4 percentage points higher than in 2019 (61.4%).

Prior to reunification, the highest turnout for an EU election was the first-ever election in 1979 when 65.7% came out to vote. However, this was an overall lower number of voters as only West Germans could vote.

Subsequent elections had hovered between 40% and 50%.

For reference, the turnout for parliamentary elections within Germany has never fallen below 70%.

06/10/2024June 10, 2024

AfD tops polls in eastern Germany

The German far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party came out top in the five federal states that make up former East Germany, long a stronghold for the extreme right-wing populists.

While the overall German vote for the AfD came to 15.9%, up from 11% in 2019, in eastern Germany the share was almost double.

A total of 6.5 million people voted for the far-right party, while 9.4 million voted for the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) who came out top in Germany as a whole with 23.7%, up 1.1 percentage points from 2019.

The results for the AfD in the eastern states were as follows, based on provisional data published by the electoral commission on Monday:

• Saxony — AfD 31.8%
• Thuringia — AfD 30.7%
• Saxony-Anhalt — AfD 30.5%
• Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania — AfD 28.3%
• Brandenburg — AfD 27.5%

In western Germany — and Berlin — the party fared much worse, although with significant variation.

The CDU, along with their sister party the CSU in Bavaria, won the states that make up former West Germany.

• Bavaria — CSU 39.7%
• Baden-Württemberg — CDU 32%
• Lower Saxony — CDU 31.4%
• North Rhine-Westphalia — CDU 31.2%
• Schleswig-Holstein — CDU 30.2%
• Rhineland-Palatinate — CDU 30.7%
• Hesse — CDU 30%
• Saarland — CDU 29.3%

The three remaining states representing cities — Berling, Hamburg and Bremen — were won by the Greens and the Social Democrats (SPD) both of which saw an overall drop in their votes.

• Berlin — Greens 19.6%
• Hamburg — Greens 21.2%
• Bremen — SPD 21.5%

ab/kb (dpa, AFP, Reuters, AP)