N. Peter Kramer’s Weekly Column
The opinion polls were not wrong this time. Narrowly short of an absolute majority, the victory of the far-right AfD in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt is overwhelming. It is now abundantly clear that the party does not only get its votes from the low-educated middle-aged male voter from an economically disadvantaged background. Apparently the party connects with a broad layer of the population. Not only did the anti-migrant theme win over so many voters. It was about what many voters said in the newspapers: “It’s not that I necessarily want to vote for the AfD, I have no other choice.” Many of them indicated that they don’t agree with different positions of the AfD, but that the party is their last resort, so that something would change.
The AfD therefore owes the monster score not only to itself, but also to the traditional political parties of the centre. They clearly do not have an answer to the challenges and problems that arise in Germany. The former EU flagship became a bit an ‘EU sick man’ itself and a perspective on better times is missing. The question is whether the AfD is able to solve the problems.
What is worrying is that the gap between West and East Germany is still there, but much les than many think. There is more unemployment, but not that much more. Incomes and pensions are lower, but life is also cheaper. And there are a lot fewer migrants living there than in many West German states. But the residents of Saxony-Anhalt feel that they are only losing out economically and socially and that Belin has no ear for their concerns. There is a good chance that this feeling will prevail not only in Saxon-Anhalt, but throughout Germany.
