AfD is the big gainer in Thuringia election, doubling previous statewide vote

Published by carolyn on Mon, 2019-10-28 00:49

Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD Party, Thuringia, celebrates the impressive achievement in Sunday's election, doubling it's vote total from five years ago after being fiercely attacked by the media and the other parties.

By Carolyn Yeager

Alternative für Deutschland Thuringia went from 12.8% of the vote total five years ago to 23.4% on Sunday, with all districts reporting. No other party came close to such an advance. Merkel's CDU (Christian Democrats) was the biggest loser, down 11.7%, from the last election! It's pretty clear the AfD took their new voters away from the CDU.

Nearly 65% of the state's eligible voters cast ballots in Sunday's election compared to 53% five years ago.

The highest number of votes went to the Left party (former Communist party) at 31%. The Left has headed the government for the past five years in a coalition with the SPD (Social Democrats) and the Greens. However, since both those parties lost ground this time around, the Left party leader Bodo Ramelow will have difficulty forming a majority in order to govern. He has been governing with a single vote majority!

The left-wing SPD was down 4% from five years ago (at a miserable 8.2%) and the Greens were down .05% (at around 5.2%). The FDP (liberal business-oriented) and the Left were both up slightly.

To reach a majority in the state's 90-seat parliament, The Left, SPD and Greens, currently in power, could bring the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) on board as well. But on Sunday evening, FDP leader Christian Lindner firmly rejected the possibility of entering into a coalition with either the Left party or the AfD, saying that "both parties want to change the economic and societal order in Germany."

It would be technically possible for the Left party to reach a majority by partnering up with either the CDU or the AfD, but practically most unlikely.  The CDU ruled out working with the Left party prior to the election and the Left rules out working with the AfD.

After the exit polls were announced, Björn Höcke, who led the AfD ticket and will lead the party's delegation in the state parliament, said the voters wanted another change comparable to the fall of the Berlin wall, according to Deutsche Welle news. He told public broadcaster ARD, “This is a clear sign that a large part of Thuringia says: This can't go on. We need renewal. This [vote] should be taken seriously.”

He also predicted his party would win an outright majority in the next election—5 years from now.

AfD national co-leader Alexander Gauland was on hand for the big night and told the broadcaster Phoenix that Höcke “is not pulling the party to the right. He is the center of the party.”

Björn Höcke has long been the nemesis of politics-as-usual in Germany. Considered a radical nationalist, even a neo-nazi because of his pro-Germanism, anti-immigration beliefs and devoted following,  Höcke said to the post-election crowd: “Never before in history has a single party and a single person been so defamed in the Federal Republic like we were.” And he is right – the media has done everything to turn voters away from him in fear and loathing. Fortunately, it didn't work out all that well!

Congratulations to the AfD Thuringia! It joins the other two states that made up Communist East Germany, Saxony and Brandenburg, in surging this year to become the second-place party in their respective states. A formidable achievement which is sure to bring even more slings and arrows their way. Keep them in your prayers.

*    *    *

Listen to Carolyn discuss this election and its likely consequences with Sven Longshanks on The Daily Nationalist: https://www.radioaryan.com/2019/10/the-daily-nationalist-merkels-cdu.html

Tags 

Björn Höcke, Alexander Gauland, Thuringia

Category 

Alternative für Deutschland, Germany
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Comments

David (not verified)Mon, 28/10/19

'Thuringia', 'Saxony', 'Brandenburg'... I had no idea where all these states of Germany were until I played this educational geography game:
 
https://online.seterra.com/en/vgp/3014
 
 I failed miserably at first, but got better with practice. Now I can name all the Länder in less than a minute!

carolynMon, 28/10/19

Good for you. I only got 50% the first time; thought I knew them better than that. But I didn't know there were 3 Saxony's; thought there were just two with several names! haha. Also didn't know where Bremen was. And it doesn't let you go on until you do the next one up correctly. No cheating!

carolynMon, 28/10/19

Charlotte Knobloch (above - click to enlarge), former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said about the state election in Thuringia: 

"The fact that a party like the so-called Alternative for Germany can experience such success in a state election shows that our whole political system is coming apart at the seams. Anywhere where a party like that celebrates success, is a place with real problems."

Current president of the same council, Josef Schuster agreed, dismissing what he called the "excuse of the protest vote." AfD voters unequivocally expressed "racist sentiment," he said.

What do they want to do? Not allow the people to vote?

Ronald Lauder, head of the World Jewish Congress, says "anyone in any party who shows anti-Semitic feelings should not be [allowed to be] in that party. And I believe there are some parties, small parties that are basically based on almost a neo-Nazi theory. They should be not allowed. And then marches like we(?) had in Chemnitz or Dortmund -- although they did not wear the signs of Nazi Germany, there was no doubt where they were. Or in sports stadiums where a whole group of people stand up and give the Hitler salute. ... That's something the government has to handle."

Lauder is not a German. He's a Jew born in Austria, now in the USA, but he's comfortable lecturing on what Germans/Germany must do to protect Jews.

Klaus Borgolte (not verified)Mon, 28/10/19

Dear Carolyn, thank you so much for your tiredless pro-German effort.
 
What can we expect from the AfD? From my current point of view, only Björn Höcke is a glimmer of hope, which I can see. 
 
Before the election, some prominent Jews called on voters not to allow the way into the (Nazi) dictatorship. By the way, Josef Schuster is also vice president of the World Jewish Congress and the European Jewish Congress. Interestingly, these are "Jews in Germany" and not German Jews acting politically anti-German.
 
What about the Jews who joined the AfD? You don't hear them, or the media divorce them dead.
I would like to make peace with the Jews. Unfortunately, it is not possible. Today's situation is far more problematic than Weimar in the twenties.
 
Glück auf
Klaus Borgolte

Peter (not verified)Tue, 29/10/19

Perharps there is still hope.  The leading scientific, technical and military power in the world of 80 years ago is now a shell of its former self.  Do the Germans still have what it takes to do more than make nice cars and win World Cups?  I hope so.  
 
Höcke's grandparents were expellees from East Prussia, which may partially explain his patriotism.  The videos of him are inspiring so permit me to post this one again.  I interpret the "race against time" comment as referring to Germany's changed and changing ethnic composition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A10wSYqeWao

David (not verified)Fri, 01/11/19

 Die Linke Won a Battle. The Far Right Is Winning the War.
The above article comes from America's foremost communist magazine, Jacobin, and contains an interesting take on the election. 
   The article looks at all the GOOD things Thuringia's minister-president, Die Linke's Bodo Ramelow, has done for the state. 
 
 Shame on you, Carolyn, for not backing Bodo! ;) Bodo is the German Bernie Sanders. 
 
The article really does make Höcke sound impressive: 'He is no caricature of a provincial simpleton with an irrational dislike for immigrants, but rather a disciplined, ideologically driven operator'.

carolynFri, 01/11/19

It's certainly more interesting than what is found in the German press. I'm happy to look forward to seeing and hearing more of Hoecke as he leads the Thüringia opposition. Yeaaah.

Coleen (not verified)Sat, 02/11/19

Please do not advise readers to enlarge photos of Knobloch as the sudden shock could do irrepairable psychological damage.

carolynSat, 02/11/19

The knives have come out already. The latest: Stephan Brandner, the AfD's chairman of the Bundestag's legal affairs committee is under attack from all five other political parties for simply using the word "Judas" for a recipient of the German Order of Merit. Brandner said the prize awarded to musician Udo Lindenberg amounted to a "Judaslohn" [a traitor's reward] for the rock star's outspoken stand "against us [the AfD]." Lindenberg had posted in German on Facebook: "Twenty-four percent; and many still say: It will never repeat itself — but do you all not see the same old, new slogans on the house walls? And that the same cold vomit (like 80 years ago) spills again from their mouths." 

That language is just fine, but an allusion to the bible is considered "anti-Semitic terminology" when used by the AfD. Called "outrageous" by Volker Ullrich, interior affairs spokesman for Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU), he insisted Brandner resign as chairman of the Bundestag committee.

carolynMon, 04/11/19

I found this on the AfD website.

Alexander Gauland made a statement:

Nov. 4

"It is characteristic of the state of the CDU that within the party it is possible to argue openly about a possible coalition with the Left Party, but that it is immediately threatened with expulsion if someone proposes talks with the AfD. Anyone who dares to express a dissenting opinion on the still prevailing Merkel course will be mercilessly punished. The incident clearly shows how much the remaining bourgeois-conservative forces in the Union have now been marginalised. Those responsible in the CDU are being driven by public opinion instead of exploring perspectives for a bourgeois government beyond the Left Party, Greens and SPD, which would already be possible in Thuringia," says Gauland.

P-K (not verified)Wed, 20/11/19

Late to reply, but just had a manager visiting from Germany tell me he was "scared to death of Nazis" because of AfD election results.
 
I replied with incredulity, "AfD? Nazis?"
 
"YES NAZIS EXACTLY THE SAME.  Only stupid people support for AfD."
 
I replied with "I must be pretty dumb then." (This was ignored, pretty sure it was heard.) ... Considering my seniority and the critical role I play in this department, the irony must have smacked him in the face.
 
This same person lives in a small village (18,000 people) and insists he has no problem living around migrants.  Ah-huh.  No clue.
 
Best yet, I was told that down under had no "race issue" like the USA and Europe.  I then told him how I live in a neighbourhood which NOW looks to be 90% non-white (Chinese/Indian.)  I told him that we're just very good hypocrites - the ones that can afford to move to lilly-white neighbourhoods and preach all day long about multiculturalism.
 
He left pretty quick after that.  Don't worry, my career prospects weren't looking very good anyway.

carolynFri, 22/11/19

I thank you for sharing this. It's sad, to be sure, and I appreciate your bravery in speaking up for your own views. I have to remind myself that everything in this world comes in mixed fashion - dark and light, good and bad - and that has to be faced by the "enemy" also. That's how we enjoy the needed, and beautiful and clarifying, Contrast.

What I'm saying is, while we can wish it were not so and everyone thought the same way I do, it's necessary.

Contrast you and that manager - both German, both working for that same company - but he doesn't want to see beyond today when "Germany" will no longer be a land of Germans, but something else. What that "something else" will be is haphazard, unknown, unplanned. Being German will have lost its old "racist" meaning for something with no meaning.

Meaning itself is being demonized. Every form of meaning is being seen as too exclusive, therefore offensive (to someone). The bottom line is to accept that we can only keep standing and speaking for what we believe to be best, and know that there will always be opposition - sometimes in the forrm of lethargy, like with that manager.

I most admire great fighters like Adolf Hitler ... and Donald Trump, who is transforming the USA right now. Another such fighter was the (mythical?) person known as Jesus Christ. I wish I had the energy and mental concentration to write about this in more detail ... but don't think I do.

P-K (not verified)Sat, 23/11/19

Hi Carolyn,
I'm happy to share.  I really have no other outlet.  Food for thought:  Many people don't seem to know (or it is not written much about) how big companies, particularly multi-nationals, are carriers for the sort of views (and much, much more) that this man openly expresses.
 
In one meeting, it was explained to us that "diversity is an opportunity."  They openly hire by quota.  To me this is still startling, especially in a country that only 40 years ago still had a "Whites only" immigration policy.
 
But not only have the demographics changed, but "White culture" has hit such a rock-bottom, I find myself clinging to an almost abstract sense of what it means to be White ... Well, actually, German.  Take this "German" manager for example.  What do I have in common with him anymore?  He holds views that I find abhorrent, and visa versa.
 
Could I convince him that the world-view he holds is disasterous in the long-run?  Or that the beliefs he has about so-called "Nazis" are false and vicious propaganda?  I could never believe my grandfathers and uncles were so evil.  But he does.
 
So here lies an acute difference between us, I am loyal, true and honest.  He is more like a chameleon - he adapts to the status quo to elevate himself further.  What can be said about such a character?  So that is the situation, there seems little point in agitating further.  I probably said too much already, and now I must bite my tongue.  Getting a good job these days is difficult, I find.
 
I'm not convinced today's politicians can pull off a big change (even if their intentions are pure) and so while I feel a great calamity lies ahead, part of me also senses this is an opportunity for renewal.  Call it a gut-feeling.  This is why I am not as despondent as some of your commenters who just write us off.  We won't go quietly into the night, I'm sure of it.
Best Regards,
P-K