The World Briefly
July 04, 2023Making a Comeback
Germany
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The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won its first mayoral race this week, the latest election victory of the anti-immigrant group as it experiences increasing support in the polls, the Telegraph reported.
AfD candidate Hannes Loth won 51 percent of the vote to become mayor of the town of Raguhn-Jeßnitz in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
It marks the first time the AfD has won a mayoral election and is its second triumph of late in local polls: Last week, the far-right party made headlines when it won local district elections in Sonneberg, in the central state of Thuringia – the first time it won control of a county administration.
Since its founding a decade ago, the AfD has run on a platform of Euroscepticism and anti-immigration. Following the 2017 general election, the AfD entered the German parliament for the first time, riding on a wave of anti-migrant sentiment over the influx of refugees into Europe during the preceding years, according to the Associated Press.
It experienced a dip in popularity in the 2021 elections. But in recent months, polling between 19 and 20 percent nationally, the AfD has emerged ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party to become the second-most popular political party.
Analysts attribute the trend to discontent with rising migrant numbers, as well as the coalition government’s plans to boost green energy, particularly a new law that bans gas and oil heating in new buildings, Politico noted.
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