Scholz’s SPD edges out far-right AfD in German state election
Ruling left-leaning party wins 31 percent of vote in Brandenburg against anti-immigration AfD’s 29 percent.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has narrowly beaten the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in an election in the east German state of Brandenburg.
Scholz’s centre-left SPD won about 31 percent of the vote, according to official results released on Monday morning. The result illustrates deep political polarisation with the anti-immigration AfD scoring about 29 percent.
The vote on Sunday came three weeks after the far right made strong gains in elections in two other eastern states. The result in Brandenburg thus offered a rare moment of respite for Scholz’s embattled coalition government, which has sunk in opinion polls a year before national elections.
“A great result, very great for the SPD, and for all of us,” Scholz was quoted as saying by Politico website on the sidelines of his visit to the United Nations in New York on Sunday.
The result, however, is unlikely to give him or his party a major boost given that popular, incumbent SPD premier Hubert Dietmar Woidke has distanced himself from Scholz during the campaign and criticised the federal government’s policies.
The election in Brandenburg was closely watched as Scholz’s SPD has ruled there ever since Germany’s 1990 reunification. The chancellor’s own electoral district is in the state capital Potsdam, outside Berlin.
The AfD, which rails against asylum seekers, multiculturalism, Islam and Scholz’s government, had hoped to replicate its recent electoral success in the east.
Three weeks ago, the far-right party stunned the political establishment by winning its first-ever parliamentary vote – in the eastern state of Thuringia – and coming a close second in neighbouring Saxony.
Despite its ballot box success, the AfD is unlikely to take power in any state since all other mainstream parties have so far ruled out entering a governing alliance with the party.
SPD’s Woidke, in office for more than a decade, had also thrown down a challenge to voters by telling them he would quit if the AfD won.
The AfD, which had pledged “to send Woidke into retirement”, nonetheless hailed its strong showing. Party co-leader Tino Chrupalla said it had “taken gold once and silver twice” in three elections in the east this month.
The AfD’s populist rhetoric has heaped political pressure on Scholz and his governing allies, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats. Both parties scored in the low single digits in Sunday’s state election.