Right-wing extremists win German elections for the first time since World War II

The German extreme right has won its first election since World War II.

The AfD – that stands for Alternative for Germany – took first place in the state elections in Thuringia with around 33 percent of the vote, and second place in neighboring Saxony with around 31 percent.

To Newstalk BreakfastGermany-based journalist Rob Hyde said there was widespread dissatisfaction with the established parties.

“The traditional centrist parties have collapsed in these two federal states because voters there have increasingly defected to extremist parties,” he said.

“On the one hand, the AfD – but that is not the only option.

“There is also a woman named Sahra Wagenknecht, who comes from the radical left and has also done very well.

“It received 15.8 percent of the votes in Thuringia and 11.8 percent in Saxony.

“I think this is a sign of massive dissatisfaction among voters with the coalition government under Chancellor Olaf Scholes.”

Until the invasion of Ukraine, Germany’s key industries were heavily dependent on Russian fossil fuels.

The Sanctions imposed against Russia have massively increased their cost margins and economic growth has suffered.

Faced with widespread voter dissatisfaction, both the far left and the far right have reached the same conclusion on certain “key policy areas.”

“Uncontrolled mass immigration – they want to take massive action against that,” said Hyde.

“They both want to restore trade relations with Russia and are both firmly opposed to the EU.

“They are also for the rights of German workers – so there is a kind of unity, even if they seem to be at different ends of the political spectrum.”

Nevertheless, he predicts that it will be “very difficult” for the AfD to form a functioning coalition because the traditional parties do not want anything to do with it.

Mr Hyde is in all probability convinced that Sahra Wagenknecht's radical left will become the kingmaker.

Cover photo: Left-wing demonstrators protest against the AfD's Thuringian summer festival. Photo: Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP.