Rise of far right in Germany reflects ‘frustration’ with government
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00:00For some analysis we can speak now to Thomas Koenig, a professor of political science at the University of Mannheim.
00:06Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today.
00:09Can you first just explain why the AFD is so popular in Eastern Germany?
00:14There are multiple reasons. One is about the frustration with the current federal government.
00:21That's the most cited issue, why people support not only, by the way, the AFD,
00:27she's the far right party, which is likely to win.
00:31But there's also a left wing nationalist party, Sarah Wagenknecht,
00:37who will become second in both countries or in both states.
00:41So more or less, it's about a majority of voters who support this nationalist,
00:47a new way of politics in those states.
00:52And I understand that those parties are particularly popular in the East in particular.
00:57Can you explain kind of some of the reasons?
00:59I mean, why does Germany remain divided due to its World War II legacy?
01:05It's not only World War II. Of course, there are some historical reasons.
01:09But when we look more closely, both parties campaign against a German basic principle of the post-war time,
01:17namely the Western orientation of Germany.
01:22So they are in favor of collaborating or at least finding a peace solution with Vladimir Putin's Russia.
01:31That's one big issue in Eastern Germany. A second is, of course, migration.
01:36And so it's more or less the question about whether more migrants should come to Germany.
01:46And you mentioned that left wing party led by Sarah Wagenknecht.
01:51What can you tell us about them and how they're shaping the political dynamic?
01:55And what is their relationship with the AfD?
01:59If you think about a kind of a two dimensional perspective, you have two nationalist parties.
02:07One on the left hand side, that's Sarah Wagenknecht.
02:10She's a former left wing party leader. And now she has created her own party.
02:17And from one day to another or within eight months, she finds support by about 15 percent of the voters.
02:25That's really surprising. And the topics she is addressing are very similar to those of the AfD,
02:33namely a nationalist way of migration and also more or less a more peaceful collaboration with Russia,
02:44reimporting energy from Russia and also stopping the support, the military support of Ukraine.
02:52And is there any chance that we could see those two parties decide to work together?
02:58That's very unlikely from, let's say, our studies.
03:01We know that this support of both parties is more an emotional support.
03:07So the people really love Sarah Wagenknecht on the one side and also the AfD leader Björn Höcke,
03:14who is a really right wing person on the other side, but they don't like each other.
03:19So and therefore, it's very unlikely that the two will form a coalition.
03:26It's more likely that Sarah Wagenknecht will become decisive in forming a government, at least in Thuringia,
03:32where at the moment, at least we expect that there will no party be able to form the government alone.
03:41And given that expectation that there are going to be negotiations taking place,
03:45I mean, what do you imagine that the new government is going to look like or is there going to be deadlock?
03:50Deadlock not, but we have already in Thuringia, we have a minority coalition.
03:55That would be one solution.
03:57And the other would be that we find a new way, let's say, between Sarah Wagenknecht, the CDU,
04:06and some other party like the SPD that will form a government in Thuringia.
04:11In Saxony, it's a little bit different because there is a very popular CDU minister president.
04:19So it's likely that he will continue to form a government with the SPD and the Greens, perhaps.
04:26All right, we'll have to wait and see what happens.
04:28Thomas Koenig, thank you again so much for your analysis today.
04:31That's Thomas Koenig, a professor of political science at the University of Mannheim.