German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged mainstream parties not to provide support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which scored a huge victory in regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia on Sunday.
The result gave the far right its first victory in a state legislative election since World War II.
In another big state election on Sunday, the Alternative for Germany also finished narrowly in second place in the more populous neighboring state of Saxony.
The Alternative for Germany is considered a right-wing extremist in both Thuringia and Saxony. Thuringia AfD leader Bjorn Hock has previously been fined for using Nazi slogans, although he denied doing so intentionally.
On Monday, Schulz urged other parties to prevent the Alternative for Germany from taking power by maintaining a so-called firewall.
“All democratic parties are now called upon to form a stable government free of right-wing extremists,” he said, calling the results “painful” and “worrying.”
Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel said voters in Thuringia and Saxony had given her party a “very clear mandate” to govern.
She urged parties to ignore Mr Scholz’s call for a government coalition without the AfD, saying doing so would “undermine the democratic participation of large parts of the population”.
“Firewalls are undemocratic,” Ms. Wedel added.
The AfD cannot govern in Thuringia without the support of other parties. The conservative Christian Democrats, the second-largest party, have made it clear they will not consider joining power with the far right.
Mathematically then, the conservatives would need the support of left-wing parties to gain a majority.
They have previously refused to cooperate with the leftist Left Party, which means they may have to consider the BSW, led by the more radical left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht, to form a governing coalition – which It was a difficult choice for many within the CDU to accept.
Mr Hoeke, the AfD’s top candidate in Thuringia, said CDU voters would be happy if they cooperated.
In any case, the AfD, with more than 30% of the vote, has a so-called “blocking minority” – meaning it will be able to block the appointment of new judges or any constitutional changes.
Any alliance that emerges is likely to be highly unstable.
In Saxony, the Conservatives won 42 seats, just ahead of the AfD’s 41 seats, while Sahra Wagenknecht’s party came in third with 15 seats three.
In Thuringia, the Social Democrats (SPD) led by Scholz won just six seats, while his coalition partners the Greens and the Free Democrats received none. The SPD also performed poorly in Saxony, finishing fifth.
The election underscored the unpopularity of Germany’s ruling “traffic light” coalition, named for its party colors of red, yellow and green.
The poor performance of all three ruling parties means they will be more determined to pursue their interests in the national coalition.
Leaders within both parties have said they need to defend their values. This could lead to more fissures within the national government. Ministers have said they will not dissolve the coalition and will not bring down the government – but the fact that they are saying so shows how difficult things are inside the coalition.
Ms Wedel said people had “voted down” the coalition and called on Mr Scholz and his partners to “pack their bags and vacate the chairs because voters want a different government, they want a different politics” .
The biggest issue facing AfD voters on Sunday was immigration, specifically refugees and asylum.
Although the AfD remains excluded from government power regionally and nationally, the party does have an influence on mainstream politics.
When the Alternative for Germany entered Berlin’s Bundestag in 2017, critics said their fiery anti-immigration rhetoric made the debate vulgar.
Some believe political and media rhetoric has become more radical, with CDU leader Friedrich Merz accused of imitating the rhetoric of the Alternative for Germany.
Regardless, in an effort to win back AfD voters, mainstream parties have taken a tougher stance on issues such as immigration and pushed for measures to make it easier to deport asylum seekers whose applications are rejected.
Aslihan Yesilkaya-Yurtbay, the federal president of Berlin’s Turkish community umbrella organization, said the election results were “shocking and horrifying”. She added that many young people of her generation were already planning to leave Germany.
“The future of citizens with immigrant backgrounds in this country is in question,” she said.
The Alternative for Germany also wants to stop arms supplies to Ukraine, as does Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW.
About five million Germans in the east are eligible to vote on Sunday.
Brandenburg, the third eastern state, goes to the polls in three weeks, and although the Alternative for Germany leads the polls, the Social Democrats and the Conservatives are just a few percentage points behind.
