The far-right AfD won Sunday’s election in Thuringia, securing 32.8% of the vote, preliminary results showed, after the final vote count. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came second, winning 23.6%.
Newcomer left-wing party Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) was third with 15.8% of the vote.
Germany’s ruling coalition parties, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the environmentalist Greens and business-focused Free Democrats (FDP), were slammed at the polls.
The SPD managed to make it into the state legislature with a paltry 6.1% of the vote, but the Greens and the FDP failed to meet the 5% threshold.
In Saxony, the CDU emerged victorious with 31.9%, while the AfD came a close second snatching 30.6% of the vote. The leftist BSW was third with 11.8%.
Several business associations immediately expressed concern after the far-right AfD and the anti-immigrant BSW made huge gains in the two states.
Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research, warned of significant economic and social consequences.
“The AfD in particular stands for an extremely neoliberal economic policy, for protectionism and isolation from Europe, for less immigration of skilled workers and less openness and diversity,” he told Reuters.
Fratzscher said the results will lead to an exodus of firms and skilled workers from both states.The German Economic Institute (IW) also warned about the results.
“This cannot bode well for the economy, because it needs political predictability, institutional stability and reliable framework conditions,” IW director Michael Hüther told Reuters.
