The general sigh of relief after the Saxony-Anhalt election is cynical. The far right party is alarmingly anchored in the East.
A fifth of the voters in Saxony-Anhalt ticked the AfD, most of them probably for the second time after 2016. That is a good three percentage points less than five years ago – but still more than 20 percent. But the lake rests fairly quietly in political Berlin.
Where’s the outcry? Where’s the outrage? Or do we now find it normal to see the far right wing of the far right AfD party as the second strongest force in a state parliament? The Office for the Protection of the Constitution looks to this party. The political audience prefers to look the other way. Worse still: the Eastern Commissioner was reprimanded by the CDU, who rudely called things by name before the election. He was right. The AfD is shockingly firmly anchored in East Germany.
One can perhaps understand that the CDU and Reiner Haseloff do not want to overshadow their brilliant election victory the next day with an AfD debate. Prime Minister Haseloff took a clear course of demarcation with some risk and won. He did his duty. He can celebrate.
It is different from the Left Party and the SPD. It was their weakness that stabilized the AfD at a slightly reduced level. The AfD received thousands of net votes from the Left Party, the SPD did not steal any. Both parties have fallen into their own trap: for years they have tried to convince themselves (and the audience) that the AfD is solely a problem for the CDU. This fails to recognize how easily disappointed and left behind from all parties can be approached for the AfDler’s thug rhetoric.
The Left Party in particular has lost its sense of the frustration and hardships of “its” people. This is devastating for a party that needs an Eastern down-to-earth approach as a brand core. Instead, they demonize their former party icon, Sahra Wagenknecht, who keeps reproaching the new party leadership with this deficit.
For the AfD, however, the result on Sunday is questionable, because it touches on their political threat potential – that of a “movement” that is getting stronger and stronger. Fixed parties can afford to remain at a temporary level of votes. However, it takes the nimbus and attraction of a “movement” that the AfD wants to be. The AfD was correspondingly subdued on election evening. You can feel there in your stomach that your own goals no longer match the pace at which things are progressing. After all, the other parties can quietly enjoy that.
Coalition calculator, constituencies: All data on the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt
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