Mainstream politicians express alarm while lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt welcomes congratulations from Elon Musk
Mainstream politicians around Europe have expressed alarm after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) swept to a historic state election victory in Germany, while nationalist figures cheered the result as a mandate for change.
While falling just short of an absolute majority, the AfD surged into first place in the Saxony-Anhalt state election on Sunday, exit polls showed, putting the far right within reach of power at the state level for the first time since the second world war.
So, I don’t want to say this isn’t worrying and this party definitely needs to be banned, but the article almost only mentions as a foot note that this has been long coming.
The last election saw them as second strongest party in that same state. This is not a full election, this is just for that single state where historically lots of people are voting for them.
So yeah, terrible, but also this has been building up for a while in that specific region.
I think that actually makes it worse. The signs were there and instead of acting on it and opposing the xenophobic narrative, the big parties jumped on the bandwagon, hoping to pry the racist voters off of the AfD, but instead they assured the voters in their fear, pushing them further right.
I’m gonna continue screaming into a pillow now.