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‘It’s unforgivable’: Why Merkel and Germany are up in arms after shock far-right AfD vote

The new premier of Thuringia has stepped down after he was elected with the help of far-right AfD lawmakers in a vote Angela Merkel called "unforgivable". Here's why this is Germany's latest political crisis.

Published: 6 February 2020 10:03 CET
Updated: 6 February 2020 15:46 CET
'It's unforgivable': Why Merkel and Germany are up in arms after shock far-right AfD vote
In Munich a protester holds a sign that says: 'Does the F in FDP stand for fascism?' Photo: DPA

On Wednesday all political hell broke loose in Germany after Thomas Kemmerich, from the economically liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), won a vote to become premier in the central eastern state of Thuringia despite his party having just five seats in the local parliament.

He stepped down on Thursday after an outcry across Germany. Here's how the drama played out.

What’s happened?

What became apparent was that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) had backed Kemmerich in the vote, effectively pushing incumbent Bodo Ramelow of the Left party (die Linke) out of office.

Kemmerich scored 45 votes, beating Ramelow, who has been state premier in Thuringia since 2014, by one vote.

People from across the political spectrum have accused both the FDP and the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) of tacit cooperation with the AfD, and there are now calls for new elections.

Chancellor Merkel on Thursday said it was “unforgivable” that a politician in Thuringia allowed himself to be elected state premier with help from MPs from the far-right AfD, calling for the vote to take place again.

What happened in Thuringia “is unforgivable and that's why the result must be reversed,” Merkel said at a press conference in South Africa.

She added that it was “a bad day for democracy”.

The Frankfurter Rundschau ran with a picture of Thomas Kemmerich shaking hands with the AfD's Björn Höcke with the headline: “The fascist and his tool”.

Bild ran the same picture with the headline: “The handshake of shame.”

On Wednesday night protests took place in several German cities, including Erfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Berlin and Munich.

READ ALSO: 'First time in history': Far-right AfD backing for regional politician shocks Germany

A protester holds a 'never again' poster in Munich. Photo: DPA

Around a thousand people gathered in front of the Thuringian State Chancellery on Wednesday night, forming a human chain. Some chanted: “Who betrayed us? Free Democrats!” and “Not my state premier!”

In Berlin, more than a thousand demonstrators gathered in front of the party headquarters of the FDP and CDU.

People shared clips on social media of the protests.

Why is it so controversial?

The regional election in Thuringia last October saw the Left come out on top as the most popular party with 31 percent of the vote.

The party was unable to hold onto a majority coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens but carried on with a minority coalition.

Still, Ramelow, a popular local politician, was widely expected to win the vote and continue as state premier.

The FDP scraped into the Thuringia state parliament, winning just five seats so it is by all accounts absurd that they should have a leader in place. 

READ ALSO: What does the far-right AfD's success in Thuringia mean for Germany?

The AfD's Björn Höcke congratulating the FDP's Thomas Kemmerich. Photo: DPA

The candidate for the AfD, which surged into second place in last year’s regional elections with 23.4 percent, received zero votes, indicating the party's politicians aligned as a bloc behind Kemmerich.

While the vote was secret, the liberal candidate must also have enjoyed support from lawmakers belonging to Merkel's conservative CDU, as well as his FDP colleagues.

Adding to the fire is the fact that AfD's leader there, Höcke, is one of the party's most radical figures, heading a movement within the party known as the “Wing”.

He has in the past called for a “180 degree turn” in Germany's culture of remembrance for the Holocaust and other crimes of the Nazis, which form a central pillar of the country's post-World War II political life.

Last September, a court ruled that Höcke could legally be termed a fascist as the description “rests on verifiable fact”.

FDP boss Christian Lindner said the vote had not been agreed beforehand with the AfD. He said he was surprised by the outcome, and that the AfD’s vote for his candidate had been “purely tactical”.

What’s the reaction?

It’s been described as a “political earthquake” with implications at all levels.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU immediately called for fresh regional elections as a way out of the crisis, a call echoed by other mainstream parties, reported AFP.

The result sparked widespread outrage, with Norbert Walter-Borjans, co-leader of Merkel's junior coalition partner the Social Democratic Party (SPD), calling for a “clear position” distancing Merkel's conservatives from the AfD.

“What has happened in Thuringia is not just a matter for Thuringia” but for federal politics too, he told broadcaster ZDF.

“This is a bad day for Thuringia, a bad day for Germany,” CDU president Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said.

The Left's Bodo Ramelow on Wednesday. Photo: DPA

She called for new elections in the state and blasted regional politicians for breaching the party's policy of no cooperation with the AfD.

“New elections would be the best thing for Thuringia,” the CDU's secretary general Paul Ziemiak added.

Members of the two government parties, CDU and he SPD, organized a crisis meeting in Berlin on Saturday to discuss the issue.

“The republic is in danger,” said Katja Kipping, a leader of the far-left Linke party.

“How far have we come that the FDP allows a state premier Kemmerich to be voted in with votes from the fascist Höcke and the AfD?”, said The Left's Bernd Riexinger. “Breaking this taboo will have far-reaching consequences.”

READ ALSO: AfD surges to second place in Thuringia state election

Addressing the local parliament in Erfurt, Kemmerich sought to play down concerns by insisting he would stick to a pre-election pledge not to work with the AfD.

“You have in me a bitter opponent of anything that even hints at radicalism, from the right or left, or fascism,” he said, but he faced jeers from MPs and shouts of “Hypocrite!” and “Charlatan!”.

AfD co-leader Jörg Meuthen told the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily the vote showed there was “less distance” between the CDU, FDP and AfD than other parties, showing the movement was part of a “middle class” majority.

It would be “understandable” if the AfD demanded ministerial jobs in Kemmerich's government, he added.

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POLITICS

ANALYSIS: What’s at stake in Germany’s eastern state elections?

After success in Thuringia and Saxony, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) may well come in first in another eastern state election this Sunday. We spoke with a political scientist to analyse what's at stake as Brandenburg goes to the polls.

Published: 19 September 2024 09:11 CEST
ANALYSIS: What's at stake in Germany's eastern state elections?

German politics’ “eastern September” is set to finally end Sunday – with more ruminations and reflections likely to come about the recent fortunes of the far-right AfD at the ballot box.

If current polls are anything to go by, the AfD could come in first in the eastern state encircling Berlin – which counts Potsdam as its capital.

After overtaking the governing Social Democrats (SPD) in a recent shock poll, the party is currently at around 28 percent, compared to the SPD on 25 percent. The centre-right Christian Democrats come in at 16 percent in the latest poll and the left-populist Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) – named after its founder – charts in at 14 percent.

The remaining parties come in much lower – with the Greens, Left and liberal Free Democrats all facing possible ejection from the state parliament.

Another victory for the AfD – or even a strong showing should the SPD still manage a narrow surprise win – will certainly boost the far-right’s confidence, after it came in first in Thuringia and second in Saxony earlier this month, following state elections that saw all three of Germany’s federally governing parties take massive losses.

Thuringia and Saxony results will likely hang over Brandenburg on Sunday – with Germany’s governing parties, many everyday Germans, and foreigners all watching with some trepidation. Here’s what to watch out for following the Brandenburg result.

READ ALSO: ‘Political earthquake’ – What the far-right AfD state election win means for Germany 

A newly confident AfD insists it must be part of government

The AfD has repeatedly argued that it must be considered as a possible coalition partner to join German governments – whether at the federal, state, or local level. 

“There are no politics without the AfD,” its co-leader Tino Chrupalla said following the Thuringia results. However, all other parties have explicitly refused to work with the AfD to form a governing coalition – meaning that as high as its results this month have been, they fall well short of the absolute majority that would be required to govern alone.

READ ALSO: ‘We need change’: Germany’s far-right eyes power after state election win

However, its getting more difficult to form coalitions to keep the AfD out, with the centre-right CDU in Thuringia even open to governing with the leftwing populist BSW after mainstream parties like the Greens and FDP were thrown out of state parliament entirely.

University of Mainz political scientist Kai Arzheimer, who specialises in the German far-right, says whether the far-right ever get into a German government or not depends mostly on whether – and how – the CDU is willing to work with the AfD.

Thuringia election results on a screen

People watch the first exit polls results for Thuringia’s state elections come in at the State Parliament in Erfurt on September 1st, 2024. Photo by Joerg CARSTENSEN / AFP

“For the time being, it should be able to form coalitions against the AfD, even if they are rather awkward,” says Arzheimer, who adds that even the different regional chapters of the CDU may have different opinions about working with the AfD.

“Within the eastern state parties of both the CDU and the FDP, there seems to be some appetite for coming to an arrangement with the AfD. While a formal coalition would probably split either party, we have already seen some tentative moves towards an informal cooperation.”

Ultimately, the Brandmauer or “firewall” concept in German politics – in which all other parties refuse to work with the AfD – may end up coming under increasing stress on the back of eastern state election results, where governing with the far-right no longer becomes unthinkable.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Could the far-right AfD ever take power in Germany?

What the mainstream parties take from eastern election results

It’s probably no coincidence that Germany’s ruling government decided to re-institute border controls at its land borders with other EU states shortly after the AfD topped the Thuringia state poll, according to Arzheimer, who says the elections are just the latest in a number of things at work when if comes to Germany’s migration debate.

“The border controls, the plans for the stricter enforcement of repatriation orders, and most of all the government’s harsher rhetoric are as much a reaction to Saxony and Thuringia as they are an attempt to control the fallout from the Solingen knife attack and a response to the whole ‘debate’ on immigration,” he says.

“Many experts seem to agree that they are neither practical nor that useful, and introducing them more or less overnight smacks of a degree of panic.”

READ ALSO: Should foreign residents in Germany be concerned about far-right AfD win?

Polls conducted following the election found that migration and internal security issues were big drivers of the AfD vote – despite these being issues for the national, rather than regional, government. 

Of the AfD voters in Thuringia, more than 70 percent said either migration or crime and internal security played the largest role in influencing their vote. Slightly less than ten percent said social security. Despite the AfD’s pro-Russian views, only three percent of AfD voters in Thuringia said Germany’s support of Ukraine decisively influenced their votes.

Besides the mainstream parties like the SPD reacting with spur-of-the-moment migration policies, the Brandenburg result may end up putting pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz from within his own SPD.

Brandenburg SPD’s Dietmar Woidke may still be able to hold onto the premiership, but he has said he will resign if he doesn’t beat the AfD outright. Should he lose, calls may grow louder within the SPD for Scholz to resign himself – or at least declare that he won’t stand as a chancellor candidate again.

READ ALSO: How an explosive row over immigration has divided Germany

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