Expert om AFD:s framgång: Jättegrej symboliskt

 

Mattias Mächs/TT

 

Published 19.46

         

        AFD's local top candidate Ulrich Siegmund in Saxony-Anhalt after he voted in Tangermünde on                Sunday. Photo: Matthias Schrader/AP/TT

The landslide victory of the German far-right party AFD in the state election in Saxony-Anhalt is also leaving a big mark nationally.

- It's a huge symbolic thing, says political science professor Ann-Kristin Kölln to TT.

Saxony-Anhalt is one of Germany's smaller federal states.

But when AFD - whose local branch in the state is classified as far-right by the German security service - more than doubles its support and becomes by far the largest party, it sends shockwaves through national politics.

– It gives the AFD additional legitimacy, and shows that they are a powerful factor in German politics, a party to be reckoned with, says Ann-Kristin Kölln, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg.

The electoral success could be a step towards the party starting to normalize in broader circles.

– The more voters see that a party is being normalized by others, the more people will begin to perceive it as normal. Although it is a process that is of course gradual.

Lack of majority

It is still not impossible that the AFD will get its own majority when the official result is announced. The left-wing conservative BSW gets 5.0 percent in the polling station survey – and is therefore right on the threshold.

If they end up outside the state parliament, fewer parties will share the seats, which could mean that the AFD will get the most seats.

– The next few hours (before the official result) will be very exciting, says Ann-Kristin Kölln.

If the AfD does not get its own majority, a very unclear situation will follow in the formation of a new state government. All traditional parties have seen it as unthinkable to cooperate with a far-right party.

But even if all of them were to join forces in a coalition – which is in itself unlikely since the Christian Democratic CDU has so far refused to cooperate with the left-wing party Die Linke – there is still no majority, according to the polling station survey.

Will the firewall hold?

It would be sensational for the CDU, which will become the second largest party, to blow up the so-called “firewall” against the far right and enter into a coalition with the AfD.

“I think that is completely unthinkable at the moment,” says Ann-Kristin Kölln.

However, there is a possible, albeit small, opening for a coalition with the AfD and BSW.

“The BSW has not ruled out cooperation with the AfD, and in terms of programs there are certain similarities between the parties,” says Ann-Kristin Kölln.

Even though the far-right's successes have a great symbolic impact outside Saxony-Anhalt, the traditional parties nationally are not about to let the AFD into the heat, believes Ann-Kristin Kölln.

– The discourse has not gone that far in Germany, for historical reasons.