Dr Oliver Hartwich: Shades of 1933 in German state elections

On Sunday, Germany experienced a political earthquake. For the first time since 1933, a far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), became the largest party in a state election. In Thuringia, the AfD won 32.8% of the vote, gaining 9.4 percentage points on its previous performance.

This happened mere days after a knife attack at a festival in Solingen killed three people. The attacker, Issa Al H., was a 26-year-old Syrian who had lived in Germany since 2022 despite his claim for asylum being rejected. Unsurprisingly, this terrorist attack dominated the final week of the campaign. It put immigration and security at the centre of debate – right where the AfD likes to have it.

Richard Prebble: Insight into Politics - Voting systems matter

Recent events, the German, the Australian and last week’s local body elections, remind us how the voting system can change the result. Our media reports that Angela Merkel and her Christian Democrats have had a stunning win.  It was a remarkable result. The Conservatives are the largest party and have increased their vote and under First Past the Post they would have a huge majority.  But Germany has MMP.  The Christian Democrats are just short of 50% of the seats. While the Social Democrats (Labour) and the Greens had an awful election result with the Left Party (the former Communist party) they have a majority in the Bundestag and could form the government. 

The Social Democrats have promised not to go into coalition with the Left Party.  How long before that promise is forgotten?