The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has won a district council election in Germany for the first time, in what is being referred to as a watershed moment in the country’s politics.
According the Guardian UK, the eastern town of Sonneberg, in the state of Thuringia, elected Robert Sesselmann to the post of district administrator, the equivalent of a mayor, with 52.8% of the vote, ousting the Christian Democrats’ (CDU) Jurgen Köpper on 47.2%.
The Thuringia branch of the anti-immigrant party has been classed as rightwing extremist by intelligence services. It is led by Björn Höcke, who is considered to be part of the AfD’s far right or völkisch wing, which was officially disbanded but is still widely believed to exist.
Observers say the win, which AfD’s leadership said would give the party a much-needed boost in its efforts to expand its influence across Germany, could be a bellwether for upcoming votes, in particular in the east. State parliament elections are taking place next year in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.
Established parties from the Social Democrats to the CDU as well as civil society organisations called the result a turning point to which defenders of democracy would be forced to find a way of responding.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany said it was devastated by the result. “To be clear, not everyone who voted for the AfD has a rightwing extremist mindset,” its president, Josef Schuster, told the Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper. “But the party whose candidate they have elected is, according to the regional intelligence service, rightwing extremist … This is the bursting of a dam, which the political powers in this country cannot simply take on the chin.”
Christoph Heubner, the executive vice-president of the International Auschwitz Committee, called it a “sad day” for Sonneberg, Germany and democracy. “A majority of voters have turned their backs on democracy and deliberately decided in favour of a rightwing extremist, Nazi-dominated party of destruction,” he said.
Sonneberg, which has about 57,000 inhabitants, is one of Germany’s smallest administrative regions, and voter participation was low at just 58%. However, the result’s significance goes far beyond the town itself, and this was being recognised across the country on Monday. Political scientists called it a warning to the established parties, which had joined forces and, along with other organisations such as trade unions, urged voters to abandon any existing party loyalties and back Köpper in an effort to squeeze Sesselmann out of the running, a move that appears to have backfired.
The AfD’s procurement of the most important political office in Sonneberg coincides with some of its strongest nationwide polling results recently, of between 18 and 20%.
Its rise in support has been at least in part put down to disgruntlement over infighting within the centre-left federal coalition government led by the Social Democrats, with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democratic party, as it tackles big restructuring projects in key areas, from energy procurement to military strength, migration policy to health reform.
Latest polls showed the AfD on 20%, more than double what its support was a year ago, and similar to the Social Democrats, with the Greens on 13% and the opposition CDU on 26%, Guardian UK reported.
