In Brandenburg, voters are deciding today on the future balance of power in the state parliament. The polling stations opened at 8 a.m. this morning. Around 2.1 million people in the eastern German state can take part. The main focus is on how the AfD will perform. In recent polls, the AfD was just ahead of the SPD, which has been the Prime Minister in Brandenburg since 1990. The AfD is considered a suspected right-wing extremist case by the state’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The last state election of the year is also considered to be of national political importance. The Federal Government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, has warned of serious consequences of the state election in Brandenburg. The significance of the election, in which the AfD could become the strongest force according to polls, goes far beyond the borders of this federal state, he told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group.
“Anti-Semitic ideology must not be allowed to enter a German state parliament. Especially in Brandenburg, with its important memorial sites such as the former concentration camps Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück, this would be unbearable for the victims of National Socialism and a major setback for the political education work of the last decades,” said Klein.
Head-to-head race between SPD and AfD expected
According to the latest poll, Sunday’s election is shaping up to be a neck-and-neck race between Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke’s SPD and the AfD, which the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as a suspected right-wing extremist party. According to the ZDF Politbarometer Extra published on Thursday, the AfD is currently one percentage point ahead of the SPD with 28 percent.
Klein stressed that the composition of the future state parliament will also shape the trust that Brandenburg will be given, for example, when it comes to investment decisions in the economy and international cooperation. “Ultimately, this is crucial for the success of a federal state and thus for the well-being of its citizens,” he warned.
Eastern Commissioner does not expect AfD to disappear any time soon
According to the Federal Government’s Commissioner for Eastern Europe, Carsten Schneider (SPD), the AfD will continue to have a certain level of support among the population for several years to come. “I have no illusions that the AfD in particular, with its success among young people, will have a certain level of support in the foreseeable future,” he told the Düsseldorf-based “Rheinische Post”. “Attracting companies, excellent research and other location policy measures will only achieve limited results in the short term.”
Schneider stressed: “It will probably take at least a decade for a party like the AfD to disappear from the scene. The decisive factor will be whether the parties of the democratic center can overcome the major political challenges such as structural change – and how they deal strategically with the AfD.” A significant part of the population votes for the AfD because of its extremist positions, but many still vote out of protest. dpa/yes
