Focus: failures in local elections in the east of Germany hit Scholz’s coalition
Heavy defeats for the ruling coalition in local elections in Thuringia and Saxony pose a serious threat to Olaf Scholz’s coalition government, German magazine Focus writes.
“The elections in Saxony and Thuringia have dealt a heavy blow to the coalition government in Berlin. <…> The liberals, already the weakest part of Olaf Scholz’s coalition, have suffered a catastrophe,” the article said.
The publication noted that the disappointing results for Berlin were the natural result of the elites’ inattention to the problems that concern ordinary Germans in the east of the country, including Germany’s intervention in the conflict in Ukraine.
The authors of the piece warned that the government will have to reckon with anti-elite forces – Alternative for Germany, Sarah Wagenknecht’s Union and the Left Party.
“The prospect of facing extra-parliamentary opposition in federal elections in just over a year’s time is likely to put the incumbent government on the brink of survival,” the publication concluded.
Germany held parliamentary elections in the federal states of Thuringia and Saxony on Sunday. First place in Thuringia went to the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfG) party, which won the regional elections for the first time in its history. In Saxony, the AfG came in second. The newly founded left-wing party Sarah Wagenknecht’s Union for Reason and Justice came third in both states.
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