AfD wins big in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Left scores huge in Berlin
After a string of victories for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, Die Linke ("The Left") scored a win in Berlin's state election on September 20, finishing first with 25.7 percent of the vote (Al Jazeera). The AfD finished first in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6 with 43.8 percent and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on September 20 with 38.2 percent (OSW, NPR, Euractiv).
What is the AfD?
The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), or the Alternative for Germany, was founded in 2013, mainly as an anti-euro party in Germany, similar to Britain's Brexit Party (now Reform UK), but the party quickly made a turn further right. The Anti-Defamation League describes the AfD as an anti-immigrant party whose leaders have made anti-Muslim and anti-democratic statements (Anti-Defamation League), and Saxony-Anhalt's domestic intelligence service has classified the party's state branch as confirmed right-wing extremist since 2023 (Brussels Signal). According to the Anti-Defamation League, "Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD party in the state of Thuringia, has twice been fined by a German court for using a banned Nazi slogan. The phrase, "Everything for Germany" ("Alles für Deutschland") was a slogan of the Nazi stormtroopers and engraved on their daggers." (Anti-Defamation League). Höcke has said he did nothing wrong (AP). The party has enjoyed strong support recently in the polls (Politico, Anadolu), and while other hard-right parties, such as former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz (AP), Nigel Farage's Reform UK (Sky News), and Poland's Law and Justice Party, which backed President Karol Nawrocki (OKO.press), have lost ground with the public, the AfD has, in fact, done the opposite.
What is Die Linke?
Die Linke is a left-wing, democratic socialist party in Germany. According to DW, "The Left's ambiguous, and slightly bewildering, history is another reason why other parties keep their distance. The fact that some of the Left's members were once part of the Socialist Unity Party (SED), which ran the East German dictatorship, still puts many German voters off — especially older ones" (DW). Die Linke was formed in 2007 as a merger between the Party of Democratic Socialism and the Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice (German History in Documents and Images). It sits on the opposite end of the political spectrum from the AfD, sometimes being considered a far-left party (Reuters), with similar policies to the Green Party of England and Wales and some Progressive Democrats here in the States, such as Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani, whose advisers met with Die Linke before the Berlin election (Novara Media), with policy ideas such as rent caps, free public transport, and climate protection (Truthout).
What does this win mean?
AfD's win in Saxony-Anhalt marks the best result in the party's history (OSW). The first time a far-right party won a state election in Germany since World War II was in 2024, when the AfD finished first in Thuringia (AP). However, the AfD did not win a majority in Saxony-Anhalt or Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and due to the firewall, an agreement among Germany's other parties not to form a government or work with the far-right, which the CDU made party policy in 2018 (Euronews), no party has agreed to govern with it in either state. In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD holds 39 of 83 seats, and its candidate plans to stand for state premier in December without a secured majority (Brussels Signal). In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the SPD's Manuela Schwesig is expected to stay in office (NPR). Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is also a state that Die Linke and its predecessor, PDS, have helped govern, most recently in a coalition with the SPD that lost its majority in this election (Blue News). On the other hand, Berlin's election is historic because it is Die Linke's best result ever in the capital, and the party looks set to lead the city's government for the first time (Reuters). The focus of Die Linke's campaign was the cost of living, especially housing costs, which have soared in recent years, with promises of socialising about 220,000 apartments owned by large corporate landlords, a measure approved by Berliners in a 2021 referendum (Reuters). The referendum was nonbinding, and no Berlin government has put it into law (AP). Other promises include a municipal rent cap, publicly funded canteens, and increased street-cleaning funds, according to the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which is affiliated with Die Linke (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation).
Chancellor Merz under pressure
These election results stack more onto an already difficult term for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). These elections were seen as a test for Merz (Anadolu), and a survey by public broadcaster ARD on October 1 found that only one in 10 respondents were satisfied with his work, the lowest figure for any chancellor since the survey began in 1997 (Al Jazeera). Merz has rejected talk of resigning (NPR). When Merz took office, his government, which he formed with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), promised reforms to boost Germany's struggling economy. However, he has struggled to push those reforms through, and in these elections his party was beaten by the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and by Die Linke in Berlin (Euronews).