Germans also voted in the state of Saxony over the weekend in elections that inflicted woe on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center -left coalition.

The AfD got 32.8%, trouncing the second-place Christian Democrats Union (CDU), which got 23.6%. The radical left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) came third with 15.8%, while the Left Party won 13.1% of the votes and the social democratic SPD 6.1%. The Greens and the liberal FDP, which along with the SDP constitute the coalition in charge of the national government, fell below the 5% electoral threshold.

Björn Höcke, the AfD leader in Thuringia, praised the party’s win as a “historic victory.”

“We are ready to take government responsibility,” Höcke said, while Schloz described the results as “bitter” and called on parties to refuse to work with the AfD.

The AfD has predominantly run a campaign on an anti-immigration stance, claiming that Germans are being replaced by foreigners.

“We don't accept that we Germans are simply dying out. And one thing is also clear: we don't want the (jobs) gaps that arise to be filled with migrants; we want to produce the skilled workers of the future ourselves,” Höcke said on Saturday.

It has also tapped into a pool of resentment in eastern Germany, fueled by an economic divide between it and western Germany that harks back to the days before German reunification.

According to the data, in the Thuringia parliament, which has 88 regular seats, the AfD will receive 32, the Christian Democrats 23, the BSW 15, the Left 12 and the SPD six.

The AfD were particularly successful with the youth vote, garnering 37% of 18- to 24-year-olds votes in Thuringria.

But it may be difficult for the AfD to take power in the parliament. The CDU has already ruled out working with it, and it is possible that parties opposed to it might try and form a “firewall” coalition to stop it from taking control of the state.

Saxony

In Saxony, the CDU, which has been in power in the region for 34 years, won with 31.9% of the vote, slightly ahead of the AfD, which got 30.6%. Third place went to the BSW on 11.8%. The SPD received 7.3%, and the Greens narrowly exceeded the electoral threshold, receiving 5.1% of the votes.

After a correction in the distribution of seats caused by a software error, the Saxon state parliament, which has 120 members, will have 41 Christian Democrats and 40 AfD members. Four other parties reportedly crossed the threshold, with BSW securing 15, SPD 10, the Greens seven and the Left six seats.

Turnout in both states was higher than in the previous state elections in 2019. In Thuringia, 73.6% of those eligible voted (64.9% in 2019), and in Saxony, 74.4% (66.6% in 2019).

Compared to the previous elections, support for the AfD has increased in both regions, including in Thuringia, by 9.4 percentage points.