The populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) saw its share of the vote more than double in yesterday’s state elections in Thuringia. The party surpassed Angela Merkel’s CDU, and is now the second-largest party in the state.
The far-left Die Linke (The Left) party became the strongest political force in the state, while support for Angela Merkel’s center-right CDU fell dramatically. The center-left SPD also lost votes and dropped down to single digits.
According to preliminary final results, Die Link, a party with its roots in the former Communist party of East Germany, garnered 31.0 percent of the vote.
The Alternative for Deutschland came in second place, taking home 23.4 of the vote, while support for the CDU dropped to 21.8. The center-left SPD snagged just 8.2 percent of the vote, the Greens grabbed 5.2 percent, and the liberal FDP party won 5 percent.
Despite Die Link topping Sunday’s exit polls, the clear winner of the election was the populist AfD, which saw its share of the vote surge from 10.6 percent in Thuringia’s last state elections in 2014 to 23.8 percent.
The AfD’s success in yesterday’s election represents an enormous victory for Björn Höcke, the party’s leader in Thuringia. Höcke’s victory will likely strengthen the rightist faction inside the AfD.Germany: Preliminary final result for today's Thuringia regional election, in which left-wing LINKE (GUE/NGL) received its best regional election result in the history of the party and liberal FDP (RE) made it across the 5% threshold by only six votes. #ltwth19 pic.twitter.com/fAv04s1zV7— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) October 28, 2019
Following the announcement of the exit polls, Höcke said that the result was a clear indication that Thuringian voters desired a change comparable to the fall of the Berlin wall.
“We have seen more than a 100 percent increase. This has never occurred in the history of Thuringia. I’m proud of that,” Björn Höcke said while commenting on the excellent election result.
“The Ramelow government has been voted out. That’s good for Thuringia.”
“This is a clear sign that a large part of Thuringia says: This can’t go on,” he told public broadcaster ARD. “We need renewal — this should be taken seriously.”
Höcke also said his party would likely win an outright majority in the next election cycle.
Yesterday’s excellent result for the AfD follows previous electoral victories in September’s elections in Saxony and Brandenburg, where the party became the second-largest party in both states.
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