Current:Home > ContactGerman far-right leader says gains in state election show her party has ‘arrived’ -FutureFinance
German far-right leader says gains in state election show her party has ‘arrived’
View
Date:2025-04-14 14:55:49
BERLIN (AP) — A leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany said on Monday that her party is no longer a primarily eastern German phenomenon after a pair of strong state election performances in the country’s more prosperous west, declaring that “we have arrived.”
The 10-year-old Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is at its strongest in the country’s former communist east. It hopes to emerge as the strongest party for the first time in three state elections in that region about a year from now.
However, co-leader Alice Weidel said gains for the party on Sunday in the western states of Hesse and Bavaria show that “AfD is no longer an eastern phenomenon, but has become a major all-German party. So we have arrived.”
Sunday’s elections, halfway through the term of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular three-party government, followed a campaign marked by discontent with persistent squabbling in the national government and by pressure to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Germany.
Germany’s main opposition force, the mainstream conservative Union bloc, won the two elections in states it already led. But AfD was one of the day’s biggest winners, taking 18.4% of the vote to finish second in Hesse — the first time it has done so in a state vote in the west. It was also the party’s best result so far in a western state election, beating its previous record of 15.1% in southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2016.
In Bavaria, it also made gains to finish third with 14.6%.
AfD was founded in 2013, initially with a focus against eurozone rescue packages. It gained strength following the arrival of a large number of refugees and migrants in 2015, and first entered Germany’s national parliament in 2017.
Recent national polls have put the party in second place with support around the 20% mark, far above the 10.3% it won in the last federal election in 2021. Other parties refuse to deal with it, while trading blame for the far right’s strength.
Weidel argued that keeping up a “firewall” against AfD is “deeply undemocratic.”
“I predict that disdain and contempt for Alternative for Germany, excluding it from government responsibility, won’t be tenable in the long run,” she said.
veryGood! (6467)
Related
- Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
- With spying charges behind him, NYPD officer now fighting to be reinstated
- Cold case: 5 years after pregnant Chicago woman vanished, her family is still searching
- Hunter Biden sues Rudy Giuliani and another lawyer over accessing and sharing of his personal data
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Could you get carhacked? The growing risk of keyless vehicle thefts and how to protect yourself
- Kim Kardashian Reveals Her Ultimate Celebrity Crush
- Erdogan says Menendez resignation from Senate committee boosts Turkey’s bid to acquire F-16s
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- Supreme Court allows drawing of new Alabama congressional map to proceed, rejecting state’s plea
Ranking
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- David McCallum, NCIS and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. star, dies at age 90
- Defendant in Michigan fake elector case seeks dismissal of charges over attorney general’s comments
- Families of those killed by fentanyl gather at DEA as US undergoes deadliest overdose crisis
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- Why Patrick Mahomes Felt “Pressure” Having Taylor Swift Cheering on Travis Kelce at NFL Game
- Kim Zolciak Files to Dismiss Kroy Biermann Divorce for a Second Time Over NSFW Reason
- Trump's lawyers accuse special counsel of seeking to muzzle him with request for gag order in election case
Recommendation
Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
From secretaries to secretary of state, Biden documents probe casts wide net: Sources
September harvest moon: Thursday's full moon will be final supermoon of 2023
Winning numbers for fourth-largest Powerball jackpot in history
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
Bruce Willis' Daughter Scout Honors Champion Emma Heming Willis Amid His Battle With FTD
Moody's says a government shutdown would be 'negative' for US credit rating
To dip or to drizzle? McDonald's has 2 new sauces to be reviewed by TikTok foodies