The German far right has won first place in a state for the first time, Thuringia. And this historic result is achieved by the most radical politician of Alternative fuer Deutschland, the extremist Bjoern Hoecke, the man that the justice system in Germany has authorized to call "fascist" and that the internal services are keeping under surveillance.
The local elections in the East of the country, in Thuringia and Saxony, have delivered the expected earthquake: the triumph of the nationalists, the collapse of the parties of Olaf Scholz's government, the drift of the Left and the rise of Sahra Wagenknecht, with her controversial political entity suspected of 'red-brownism'. The only barrier to the populist drift, in the regions of what was the GDR, is constituted by the Christian Democrats of the CDU, who now feel invested with the responsibility of governing.
In Thuringia, according to projections by ZDF television, AfD made a breakthrough with 33.2% (+9.8 compared to the previous elections), CDU came in second with 23.9% (+2.2), Wagenknecht's newly formed BSW made its debut with 15.6%, while the Linke party of outgoing president Bodo Ramelow collapsed to 11.4%, losing almost 20 points.
The Social Democrats are saved but insignificant at 6.1% (-2.1), the Greens fly out of the parliament with 3.9% (-1.3), below the threshold of five. In this context, even if the CDU feels ready to take the reins, Hoecke has nevertheless come forward by inviting the parties to consultations to form a coalition.