Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Petr Akopov
[RIA] Yesterday's state elections in Germany were a strong blow not only to the ruling cabinet, but also to the entire German political system. Because they showed the depth of the crisis in which she is.
Voters in Bavaria and Hesse - these two states account for almost 20 million people, that is, a quarter of the inhabitants of Germany - elected local parliaments. To the ruling parties in BerlinThe coalitions predicted poor results, but they turned out even worse than the polls showed. Chancellor Scholz's party, the SPD, gained only eight percent in Bavaria - yes, this land has never been the domain of the left, but they have never sunk to such a low result.
The Free Democrats, their partner in the federal coalition, do not enter the Bavarian Landtag at all: they have three percent. And even the Greens, the only party in the ruling coalition that had a strong position in Bavaria, worsened its result compared to the last elections and did not meet analysts' expectations: it had less than 15 percent. Moreover, they were promised a confident second place, but they came only fourth.
The Greens have exactly the same percentage in Hesse - there they are quite a bit behind the SPD. But for the latter, such a result (15 percent) cannot be considered a success: in the last elections they had 20 percent, and in the year before - 30! That is, over the course of a decade, the Social Democrats lost half of their voters. And who bought them? Who was the main winner of this election?
Maybe the CDU - CSU , which took first place in both states ? In Bavaria, the CSU took 37 percent, and in Hesse the CDU got 34—and they will remain in power. But the fact is that for the Bavarian party this is a very low result, repeating their failure in the last elections, and yet they have been ruling this largest German state forever. Now, like five years ago, they will have to create a coalition with “Free Voters,” whose leader they tried to accuse of neo-fascism, but this did not prevent the party from gaining 15 percent. However, the CDU-CSU cannot be considered the moral winner of these elections - the Alternative for Germany became it.
Harassed by the entire political elite and the state apparatus, isolated (it is impossible to form coalitions with it at any level) and called extremist, the party scored 14 percent in Bavaria, finishing third, and in Hesse - more than 18 percent, not only seriously improving its result, but also taking second place. But neither Bavaria nor Hesse are the electoral base of the AfD, unlike in the east of Germany, where its rating approaches 30 percent and even exceeds them. More precisely, they did not show up before these elections, because now these two West German states will make a significant contribution to the AfD’s ratings. At the federal level, it has confidently exceeded 20 percent. That is, the non-handshake party has become the second most popular party in Germany. And it will only continue to gain popularity, despite all attempts to stop her. Or rather, even thanks to them and the methods that are used against her.
During the election campaign in Bavaria, an attempt was made on the life of AfD co-chairman Tino Hrupalla: he was injected with a syringe containing an unknown substance, and another party leader, Alice Weidel, receives constant threats and is forced to avoid public events. Such intimidation methods will not help drive the AfD into a corner - and certainly will not scare voters away from the party.
Because in modern Germany there is a growing understanding that traditional, systemic parties (even those who call themselves “people’s”, as the SPD and CDU do) are not or cannot defend the national interests of their own country and their own people. Neither in domestic policy (and this applies not only to the reception of migrants), nor in foreign policy (and this applies not only to policy towards Russia ). But these systemic parties are capable of defaming and calling “pro-Russian” and “extremist” those who have the courage to defend their position - and more and more Germans are beginning to understand this. For whom the AfD in these conditions is no longer just an “alternative”, but a natural choice.
|
