The populist Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party secured its strongest ever result in a West German state election on Sunday, while winning the youth vote as the establishment Social Democrats continue to slide.
Nearly five million voters headed to the polls on Sunday in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the country’s sixth-largest state by population.
While the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz won the evening with 31 per cent of the vote, slightly up from its 27.7 per cent showing in the previous election in 2021, the headlines emerging from Sunday focused on the collapse of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the strong showing by the AfD.
The SPD, which suffered a major defeat in the national elections last year, saw its support in the Rhineland plummet by nearly 10 points, from 35.7 per cent in 2021 to 25.9 per cent on Sunday.
However, perhaps most significant was the rise of the AfD, which scored its best-ever result in a West German state election. The populist anti-mass migration party, which is now challenging the CDU for top place nationally, more than doubled its vote share over the previous election, securing 19.5 per cent compared to 8.3 per cent five years ago.
This meant the AfD outperformed the left-wing Green Party to take third place, following another strong third-place finish in the West German state of Baden-Württemberg earlier this month.
“We have achieved record results,” AfD leader Alice Weidel said on Sunday per POLITICO. “Voters appreciate the work we’ve done as opposition party, and we will continue on this path so that we can join the government in the next election.”
Intriguingly, the surge for the populist party was driven in part by rising popularity among younger voters, with the AfD winning the under-25 vote with 21 per cent, compared to 19 for the Social Democrats, and 16 for Die Linke (The Left), the descendant of the former communist ruling party in the former East Germany, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).
The surge in support among the youth and the declining popularity of the Social Democrats may indicate a rightward shift among the voting bloc, which is most disadvantaged by unfettered mass migration, which drives down the wages of labour while simultaneously increasing the cost of housing and other essentials.
Sunday’s results also demonstrated that the AfD is growing outside of its traditional heartland of support in East Germany, the poorer and less developed half of the country, which suffered for decades under communist rule.
The more traditional and less progressive area of the country has also been more averse to cultural changes, notably the mass importation of millions of foreigners, often from the Islamic world. This has already had significant ramifications at the ballot box in Germany, with the state of Baden-Württemberg earlier this month becoming the first to elect a Muslim to the position of Minister-President, Turkish heritage Cem Özdemir of the Green Party.
