Regional Elections In Germany. Scholz Defeated

The results of German elections on Sunday in Bavaria and Hesse were a disaster for the Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government. In addition to the results obtained by the government coalition parties, German and international media highlighted the success of the far right: Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) was among the parties with the largest number of votes, which is a clear signal of people’s dissatisfaction with Scholz’s political and economic line.

The AfD, which in Germany is described as a “far-right party,” received 18.4% of the vote in Hesse and 14.6% in Bavaria. In both cases, this was a “historic” result for the AfD founded in 2013, which in recent years has managed to win consensus among voters even outside its traditional support base in the eastern states corresponding to – until 1990 – East Germany (formerly the GDR).

In Germany’s two important western regions, 10 million voters, which is about a sixth of the country’s entire electorate, were called to the polls. It is noted that after the 2021 vote in the Bundestag to the German national parliament, which resulted in the formation of a “traffic light” government between the Social Democrats SPD, the Greens, and the FDP liberals led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, votes in Bavaria and Hesse were “the first an important pre-election event,” a kind of “litmus test” of popular support for the coalition at the top of the country.

This was a bitter election for Scholz: the Christian Social parties CDU/CSU triumphed, accompanied by the final rise of the AfD, which achieved important results in both regions. The CSU in Bavaria and the CDU in Hesse won with 34% and 36% of the votes respectively. In contrast, the Social Democrats, Scholz’s party, received just over 15% of the vote in Hesse and about 14% of the vote in Bavaria. The Greens and Liberals, the two parties in the traffic light government, along with Scholz’s, lost significant support: the former received between 14% and 13.8% of the vote, the latter between 3% and 5%.

The historic CDU/CSU tandem said it had “no intention” of forming a coalition government with the AfD, and the outcome in any case signaled a loss of consensus – for now, at the regional level – of the Scholz government, who has been in office for almost two years.

In the past, “traditional” Reichsbürger issues have been at the center of state elections in Germany, related to local politics, transport, health, and education. However, in recent years, the tone of the debate has shifted towards issues of urban safety and national importance, such as immigration, the energy transition, the environment, and Germany’s overall economic situation.

The Alternative for Germany party won the trust of voters by capitalizing on dissatisfaction with Scholz, who was blamed for the economic crisis, runaway inflation, rising energy prices after the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, the housing crisis, rising energy prices, and the growing number of asylum seekers arriving in Germany in recent months.