The success of the AfD was a "double slap in the face" to Angela Merkel, but not the "earthquake everyone feared." DW rounds up the international reactions to the state elections in Saxony and Brandenburg.
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) still managed to come out on top in Saxony and Brandenburg respectively.
The world's press followed the events closely, and had varying takes on the far-right surge.
The results were a "shock ... but not the earthquake that everyone feared," as Italy's Corriere della Sera put it.
La Repubblica expressed deeper worries, "The nightmare that the far-right AfD would be the strongest party in two federal states in the former GDR and rattle the Merkel government was averted ...But the extreme right is on a worrying advance...Fear, nationalism and xenophobia were the main instruments used in the election campaign."
The UK Guardian's headline read, "Far-right AfD makes big gains but fails to topple mainstream parties."
Poland's left-leaning Gazeta Wyborzcza took a similar line, opining that "the populist attack was deflected ... but the AfD still recorded a record result in Saxony and Brandenburg. However, they did not manage to beat the governing CDU and SPD."
France's regional Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace wrote, "Thirty years on, the reunification is still breathing, but feebly ...The right is getting closer, they're nibbling away, one election at a time, pushing and shaking the foundations of social democracy." The Alsace paper added that as eastern Germany is in "economic despair," the AfD can "surf on the wave of latent and historical racism, which was caused by the massive influx of migrants in 2015."
French daily Le Monde called the AfD's rise a "strong breakthrough," saying that the party has "never scored as high," while the Dutch De Telegraaf said the results were "a double slap in the face for the unstable German coalition."
Volkskrant, another Dutch daily, said that while the right-wing populists were not the largest party in either state, the AfD can now "call itself the 'People's Party' in the [former] East."
Spain seemed more optimistic with La Vanguardia writing that the CDU and SPD "succeeded to slow down the ultra-rights" in the east while El Pais said that the governing parties can still "take a stand in the eastern rise of the ultra-right."
Denmark's Politiken said that while Merkel's CDU and the SPD suffered a blow in the east, they managed to "bypass the great catastrophe."
The Washington Post notedthe "huge gains" made by the AfD were still insufficient "to overtake the established parties."
Politico said that although the AfD did not win in either state, the party "posted its best-ever result in both, sending a strong message to the Merkel's centrist coalition in Berlin."
Germany's major political parties — What you need to know
There are seven political parties in the German Bundestag and they rarely agree on anything. DW takes a look at their ideologies, leadership and history.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Schmidt
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
The CDU has traditionally been the main center-right party across Germany, but it shifted toward the center under Chancellor Angela Merkel. The party remains more fiscally and socially conservative compared to parties on the left. It supports membership of the EU and NATO, budgetary discipline at home and abroad and generally likes the status quo. It is the largest party in the Bundestag.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Schmidt
Christian Social Union (CSU)
The CSU is the sister party of the CDU in Bavaria and the two act symbiotically at the national level (CDU/CSU). Despite their similarities, the CSU is generally more conservative than the CDU on social issues. The CSU leader and premier of Bavaria, Markus Söder, ordered crosses in every state building in 2018.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Schuldt
Social Democrats (SPD)
The SPD is Germany's oldest political party and the main center-left rival of the CDU/CSU. It shares the CDU/CSU support for the EU and NATO, but it takes a more progressive stance on social issues and welfare policies. It is currently in a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and is trying to win back support under interim leaders Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, Manuela Schwesig and Malu Dreyer.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
Alternative for Germany (AfD)
The new kid on the block is the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. The far-right party was founded in 2013 and entered the Bundestag for the first time in 2017 under the stewardship of Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland. It is largely united by opposition to Merkel's immigration policy, euroscepticism, and belief in the alleged dangers posed by Germany's Muslim population.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/U. Deck
Free Democrats (FDP)
The FDP has traditionally been the kingmaker of German politics. Although it has never received more than 15 percent of the vote, it has formed multiple coalition governments with both the CDU/CSU and SPD. The FDP, today led by Christian Lindner, supports less government spending and lower taxes, but takes a progressive stance on social issues such as gay marriage or religion.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
The Greens
The Greens, led today by Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, emerged from the environmental movement in the 1980s. Unsuprisingly, it supports efforts to fight climate change and protect the environment. It is also progressive on social issues. But strong divisions have occasionally emerged on other topics. The party famously split in the late 1990s over whether to use military force in Kosovo.
Image: picture-alliance/Eventpress Rekdal
The Left
The Left, led by Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, is the most left-wing party in the Bundestag. It supports major redistribution of wealth at home and a pacifist stance abroad, including withdrawing Germany from NATO. It emerged from the successor party to the Socialist Unity Party (SED) that ruled communist East Germany until 1989. Today, it still enjoys most of its support in eastern Germany.
