Far-right party eyes big gains in German state elections
AUTZEN, Germany (AP) — As the sun sets over the medieval towers of Bautzen, crowds flock to the market square. Most are old, white men. A few wave German flags as they gather for a rally with leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
Supporters of the party, which hopes to make big gains Sunday in two state elections, are quick to blame Chancellor Angela Merkel and her center-right Christian Democratic Union for their region’s woes.
“We need a change,” retiree Volker Nowak said as he stood among some 500 followers of the party known as AfD. “It’s only the old people left behind here ... We don’t have any doctors, any nurses, any teachers, any tradesmen and also any youth.” The CDU “ruined everything.”
The votes in Saxony — which includes Bautzen, a hilltop town of 40,000, and neighboring Brandenburg — threaten to deliver another blow to Germany’s traditional big parties and further destabilize Merkel’s national coalition government. Coming weeks before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the elections are also likely to highlight the economic and social issues that still divide the country more than a generation after reunification.
The formerly communist east, and Saxony in particular, has become a stronghold for the 6-year-old AfD, which is eyeing a possible first-place finish in both states.
Many people in Germany’s rural, eastern periphery feel left behind. Some never recovered from losing their jobs after the wall fell. Promises of equal living standards did not always become reality, and salaries in the east still lag behind those in the west. Many young people left long ago.
The CDU has governed Saxony since reunification in 1990, first with an absolute majority and more recently with coalitions. Polls for a time showed it neck-and-neck with the AfD, but recent surveys put it a few points ahead, with support around 30% — down from 39% five years ago. The AfD appears set to more than double its 9.7% score from 2014.
Neither Merkel’s CDU nor the center-left Social Democrats — Merkel’s partners in the tense national “grand coalition” — will form a coalition with the AfD. But the far-right party’s strength could make forming new governments in both states difficult.
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