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Report
Rise of far right in Germany reflects ‘frustration’ with government
FRANCE 24 English
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9/1/2024
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00:00
For some analysis we can speak now to Thomas Koenig, a professor of political science at the University of Mannheim.
00:06
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today.
00:09
Can you first just explain why the AFD is so popular in Eastern Germany?
00:14
There are multiple reasons. One is about the frustration with the current federal government.
00:21
That's the most cited issue, why people support not only, by the way, the AFD,
00:27
she's the far right party, which is likely to win.
00:31
But there's also a left wing nationalist party, Sarah Wagenknecht,
00:37
who will become second in both countries or in both states.
00:41
So more or less, it's about a majority of voters who support this nationalist,
00:47
a new way of politics in those states.
00:52
And I understand that those parties are particularly popular in the East in particular.
00:57
Can you explain kind of some of the reasons?
00:59
I mean, why does Germany remain divided due to its World War II legacy?
01:05
It's not only World War II. Of course, there are some historical reasons.
01:09
But when we look more closely, both parties campaign against a German basic principle of the post-war time,
01:17
namely the Western orientation of Germany.
01:22
So they are in favor of collaborating or at least finding a peace solution with Vladimir Putin's Russia.
01:31
That's one big issue in Eastern Germany. A second is, of course, migration.
01:36
And so it's more or less the question about whether more migrants should come to Germany.
01:46
And you mentioned that left wing party led by Sarah Wagenknecht.
01:51
What can you tell us about them and how they're shaping the political dynamic?
01:55
And what is their relationship with the AfD?
01:59
If you think about a kind of a two dimensional perspective, you have two nationalist parties.
02:07
One on the left hand side, that's Sarah Wagenknecht.
02:10
She's a former left wing party leader. And now she has created her own party.
02:17
And from one day to another or within eight months, she finds support by about 15 percent of the voters.
02:25
That's really surprising. And the topics she is addressing are very similar to those of the AfD,
02:33
namely a nationalist way of migration and also more or less a more peaceful collaboration with Russia,
02:44
reimporting energy from Russia and also stopping the support, the military support of Ukraine.
02:52
And is there any chance that we could see those two parties decide to work together?
02:58
That's very unlikely from, let's say, our studies.
03:01
We know that this support of both parties is more an emotional support.
03:07
So the people really love Sarah Wagenknecht on the one side and also the AfD leader Björn Höcke,
03:14
who is a really right wing person on the other side, but they don't like each other.
03:19
So and therefore, it's very unlikely that the two will form a coalition.
03:26
It's more likely that Sarah Wagenknecht will become decisive in forming a government, at least in Thuringia,
03:32
where at the moment, at least we expect that there will no party be able to form the government alone.
03:41
And given that expectation that there are going to be negotiations taking place,
03:45
I mean, what do you imagine that the new government is going to look like or is there going to be deadlock?
03:50
Deadlock not, but we have already in Thuringia, we have a minority coalition.
03:55
That would be one solution.
03:57
And the other would be that we find a new way, let's say, between Sarah Wagenknecht, the CDU,
04:06
and some other party like the SPD that will form a government in Thuringia.
04:11
In Saxony, it's a little bit different because there is a very popular CDU minister president.
04:19
So it's likely that he will continue to form a government with the SPD and the Greens, perhaps.
04:26
All right, we'll have to wait and see what happens.
04:28
Thomas Koenig, thank you again so much for your analysis today.
04:31
That's Thomas Koenig, a professor of political science at the University of Mannheim.
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