The far-right AfD party is making headway, a significant setback for Olaf Scholes’ SDP

Alice Weidel, leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, had few reasons to smile broadly. “So Proud” In front of the cameras after the polls closed in Bavaria and Hesse on Sunday, October 8. In these two Länder, which account for nearly a quarter of the country’s population, the AfD is rising to an all-time high, while the parties in President Olaf Scholes’ coalition are in clear decline.

In Bavaria, the AfD will receive 16% of the vote, according to provisional results, or almost 6 points more than in the last regional elections in 2018. In Hesse, it collects 18%, 5 points more than 5 points. age The results confirm the rise of the far-right across the country as the polls register. If legislative elections were held in Germany today, the AfD would exceed 20%, according to recent polls. In 2021, he received 10.3% of the vote. The only downside for the AfD on Sunday: the narrow defeat of its candidate in Bitterfeld-Wolfen (Saxony-Anhalt), where the conservative outgoing mayor (CDU) won the second round of a regional municipal election.

President Olaf Scholes’ Social Democratic Party (SPD) suffered a heavy defeat in Sunday’s elections. In Hesse, where he was the federal interior minister, he would get 15% of the vote, down almost 5 points compared to 2018, and in Bavaria, he would get 8%, up almost two points. Five years ago. Olaf Scholz’s main partners, the Greens, were also admitted. In Bavaria, they get less than 15% (-2.8). In Hesse, they will get a total of 15% of the vote, which is more significant since their decline will be 5 points compared to 2018.

For the Liberal Democrats (FDP), the third component of the coalition “ Traffic Light” by Olaf Scholz, the reverse is even more poignant. With less than 3% in Bavaria (-2.5 points), they fall short of the 5% required for representation in the regional parliament. In Hesse, they risk suffering the same fate with 4.9% of the vote according to provisional results (-2 points). For the party of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, this October 8 is another dark day: since entering the government together with the SPD and the Green Party, at the end of 2021, the FDP has suffered defeat after defeat in regional elections. This leads it to continue to harden its positions – particularly on immigration – creating strong tensions within the government.

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