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Thursday March 28, 2024

Germany votes

By our correspondents
September 26, 2017

Another major European democracy has gone to the voting booth. Another major European democracy has had a significant portion of its vote bank veer towards the rise of far-right anti-immigrant forces across Europe. While Angela Merkel’s Conservative Party has been able to secure a majority in the German elections, it will have to enter a coalition or rule as a minority government. Once again, the far right was able to steer immigration into one of the top issues during the campaign. It is a relief to many to see that the far right Alternative for Democracy (AfD) has only been able to secure 13 percent of the German vote, but it is much higher than what it polled in the 2013 election. In effect, while Merkel’s vision of relatively open borders towards refugees has won, the far-right voice in Germany is set to get amplified through significant parliamentary representation. While the rise is not major enough to revive the threat of a far-right takeover, it is significant that Merkel will face more pressure from within parliament now over her policies towards asylum seekers. Already, the increased pressure during and before the electoral campaign has been telling.

After the Berlin Christmas market attack, anti-immigrant voices in what is the heart of the European Union have grown louder. This means that Merkel’s fourth term as German chancellor will not be so straightforward. The larger question of the future of Europe continues to loom as Germany enters negotiations with France over changes to the EU governance structure. Merkel will be in a more difficult position to negotiate after the leadership of Germany’s second largest party refused to form a coalition government with her again. Merkel will have to seek out smaller parties such as the Liberals and the Greens to form an uneasy alliance to move things forward in the legislature. There is another factor that Germany will have to consider as well. The East-West divide has reappeared in a significant way. The far-right AfD was able to get 1 out of 5 votes in East Germany. The East has been reported to have felt the effects of uneven development where it has not caught up with Western Germany after reunification. One of the contributing factors to the rise is how Merkel has weakened the traditional German opposition by co-opting their policies on nuclear power and equal marriage. This has left the feeling that the only genuine opposition is being provided by the far right.

What the future of the far-right AfD will be is itself up in the air after its current more ‘moderate’ leader resigned after their triumph. The fear is that figures far more divisive within the party have been able to use the electoral gains to steer her out. However, alarm bells need not ring just yet. The far-right rise in Germany is nowhere close to Marine le Pen’s rise in neighbouring France but it certainly raises the prospect of ghosts from Germany’s chequered past haunting its present.