BERLIN, Sept 19 (Askume) – Germany’s far-right party defeated Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) in another regional election, weeks after it failed to win a state for the first time .
Sunday’s vote takes place in Brandenburg, bordering the capital Berlin’s marshy lake district, which has been ruled by the Social Democrats since unification more than three decades ago.
The nationalist demands of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) include restrictions on immigration, the construction of wind farms and the supply of arms to Ukraine.Surveys show him with a slim 3 percentage point lead, and voting intention hovering around 30 %.
The SPD has suffered from the unpopularity of the federal government due to high inflation, the war in Ukraine and the impact of large immigration inflows, but has narrowed the gap with the Social Democrats in recent Brandenburg elections.
“Brandenburg has historically been a stronghold of the Social Democratic Party,” said Philipp Tomczak, a political science professor at the University of Potsdam. “It would be a big defeat if they didn’t win here.”
The vote, which comes a year before national elections, could spark opposition to Scholz within the party or make him a candidate in 2025 if the SPD remains in power in the state.
His conservative rivals are far ahead, with their bloc winning around a third of the vote in most national polls, while the Social Democrats and the Alternative for Germany trail in the fight for second place.
This week, the Conservatives named him as their candidate for chancellor next year .Friedrich Merz was a quick-tempered, staunch conservative. But Scholz and many Social Democrats believed that Merz’s mistakes had resulted in his low personal approval ratings, giving him a chance.
Although no one has said so publicly, some in Scholz’s party believe he should follow in the footsteps of his idol Joe Biden and allow the more charismatic Defense Secretary Boris Pistorius and other supporters to step down.
But a win in Scholz’s home state – his district is in the state capital Potsdam and his wife is a minister in Brandenburg – could calm the growing rumours against him.
The party barely mentioned Scholz in its campaign, instead relying on the popularity of state premier Dietmar Woidke, a trained food chemist. He has said he would withdraw his nomination if the AfD won the most votes and would not put himself forward as a candidate to lead any potential coalition.
“The aim is to prevent the AfD from winning,” he said.
“Mother” windmill
Despite winning the most votes in Thuringia earlier this month, the Alternative for Germany has been unable to form a coalition and has little chance of forming a regional or federal government, as all other parties want to cooperate with the security services to form a coalition classified as an extremist movement. The Alternative for Germany has been accused of racism and harboring Chinese and Russian agents, charges it denies.
Brandenburg’s economic situation is mixed: it’s home to Tesla’s first factory in Europe and has an abundance of parts within Berlin’s commuter belt. But some remote villages and farms have been shrinking for decades.
In addition to concerns about Ukraine and immigration, the AfD has also publicly expressed concerns about the energy transition: its head of state, Hans-Christoph Berndt, has compared wind farms to an “unbearable situation like Mordor” in The Symbol of Evil. Land.
He was ridiculed but also received some praise – during one debate he reinterpreted a religious principle, saying: “As a Catholic, I understand that loving your neighbour means caring for your fellow man.
If the SPD founders lose Sunday’s election, it could open the way for Merz’s Christian Democrats to form a coalition in Brandenburg, possibly with the support of a new party, the socially conservative, economically leftist Sahra·Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, and other political parties.
Defeating the SPD in its stronghold would embolden Merz and could push an already uneasy SPD into open rebellion against the chancellor.
