Germany: Far-right AfD party wins state election for first time

Published

2 months ago

September 2, 2024

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A far-right party has won a regional election in Germany for the first time since the Second World War.

Alternative for Germany (AfD), founded in 2013 with an anti-migration and eurosceptic agenda, picked up the most votes in the eastern state of Thuringia.

The party won 32.8% of the vote, followed by mainstream conservatives the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with 23.6%.

It is the first time a far-right party has won the most seats in a German state parliament since the Second World War.

But AfD is almost certain to be excluded from power by rival parties.

AfD also performed well in the neighbouring state of Saxony, where it was a close second behind the CDU by just half a percentage point, a ZDF exit poll said.

The CDU, which has governed Saxony since German reunification more than 30 years ago and is the main opposition party at national level, appeared set to secure 32% of the vote in the state.

But the AfD was narrowly behind with 31.5% on Sunday, according to the poll.

Speaking after the results, AfD’s leader in Thuringia Bjorn Hocke said he felt “a great, great deal of pride”.

However, when it was pointed out that Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has his local party branch under official surveillance as a “proven right-wing extremist” group, he bristled at the question and said: “Please stop stigmatising me. We are the number one party in Thuringia.

“You don’t want to classify one-third of the voters in Thuringia as right-wing extremists.”

Hocke himself has been convicted of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at political events – he is appealing.

Celebration and devastation after state elections

The exit polls predicting the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has won the most seats in Thuringia’s state parliament sparked both celebration and devastation.

Huge cheers erupted from the pub where the party faithful were holding their watch party.

The news they were coming a close second in neighbouring Saxony will have buoyed them further.

If the win in Thuringia is confirmed, this will be the first time since World War Two that a far-right party has the most seats in a German state parliament.

Anti-immigration, populist messages of “Germany first” appealed to many voters in the former communist east where numerous people told me they feel forgotten or disconnected from the national government.

But other residents who were casting their votes in Erfurt on Sunday were deeply unnerved by the idea that the far-right might seize victory.

They know that a pact by other parties not to go into coalition with the AfD means it is unlikely to get full control of Thuringia’s parliament but the fact it has won such a huge slice of support is disturbing to some who fear Germany is stepping in a dangerous direction.

The AfD in Thuringia is being monitored by state intelligence authorities as “extremist”, and their top candidate, Bjorn Hocke, was this year found guilty of using a banned Nazi slogan – yet it appears one in three voters still backed them.

That has disturbed some Germans, as voter David warned: “In our history, we have had national socialist movement in 1933 in Weimar and hopefully we will not repeat it again.”

About 3.3 million people were eligible to vote in Saxony and nearly 1.7 million in Thuringia.

The left populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which like the AfD demands stricter controls on immigration and wants to stop arming Ukraine, came third in both states, with up to 16% of the vote in Thuringia and 12% in Saxony.

Setback for German chancellor’s coalition

The far-right success is a blow to the coalition of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz just a year before the federal election in September 2025.

Mr Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) currently governs nationally with the Greens and liberal Free Democrats (FDP). Those parties had weak results on Sunday.

AfD is unlikely to be able to form a state government as it is short of a majority and other parties refuse to collaborate with it.

AfD is strongest in the formerly communist east, and the domestic intelligence agency has the party’s branches in Saxony and Thuringia under official surveillance as “proven right-wing extremist” groups.

Immigration was pushed to the top of the country’s political agenda after three people were killed in a knife attack by a suspected Islamic extremist at a festival in Solingen, western Germany, on 23 August.

Hocke, a former history teacher, is a polarising figure who has called Berlin’s memorial to Nazi Germany’s Holocaust of Europe’s Jews a “monument of shame”.

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Elon Musk hints 80-hour-a-week DOGE job for ‘high-IQ revolutionaries’ will be unpaid

Published

3 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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Elon Musk hints 80-hour-a-week DOGE job for 'high-IQ revolutionaries' will be unpaid

“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.

The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.

The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.

“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.

“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.

“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”

In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.

“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.

“What a great deal!”

When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.

Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”

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At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

Published

3 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.

A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.

They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.

Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.

The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.

The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.

All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.

Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.

It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.

The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.

World

At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

Published

9 hours ago

November 15, 2024

admin

At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.

A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.

They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.

Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.

The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.