2024-09-01 06:03:46
In two eastern German states, Saxony and Thuringia, voters are now deciding the future balance of power in state parliaments. Polling stations open at 8am that day. The main focus will be on how the Alternative for Germany, which is likely to become the strongest force in state elections for the first time, performs.
In Thuringia, the party led by right-winger Bjorn Hock has a clear lead in opinion polls. In Saxony, the party has been battling for first place with Chancellor Michael Kretschmer’s CDU in recent weeks.
However, the AfD sees no coalition partners in either Dresden or Erfurt. Both state associations are classified as right-wing extremist organizations by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. It is therefore eagerly awaited to see which government will gain a majority in the absence of a political party. In both countries, forming alliances is becoming increasingly difficult.
In Thuringia, for example, recent surveys show that only a rather unusual coalition of the second-placed CDU, Sarawagenknecht (BSW) and the Social Democrats has any chance of achieving a politically viable Majority of seats. BSW, which was only established at the beginning of the year, clearly reached double digits in the surveys in both countries, and even reached 20% in Thuringia.
The traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP are bound to achieve poor results; both the FDP and Thuringia’s Greens have recently fallen below the 5% threshold in surveys.
Currently, Erfurt is governed by a red, red and green minority government, led by left-wing Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow. According to surveys, there is little chance that this alliance will continue. In Saxony, where Kretschmer’s CDU is in power alongside the Greens and SPD – here, at least conceivably, a new version is possible.
Polling stations in both countries are open until 6pm.
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