News analysis Political quake in Germany as far-right AfD wins state election

Result seen as expression of frustration felt by many voters with national govt's policies

- Jonathan Eyal

Germany's long-feared political earthquake has finally arrived: For the first time since World War II, a far-right political movement has scored an electoral victory in one of the country's component states.

With all the ballots in the Sept 1 state election in Thuringia now counted, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 32.8 per cent of the vote, trouncing the country's mainstream parties.

The AfD also made substantial gains in the neighbouring state of Saxony, where it attracted 30.7 per cent of the ballot, just 1 percentage point less than the Christian Democrats, the chief architects of Germany's post-war economic boom.

In strictly legal terms, the latest ballots do not affect Germany's national government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The country's 16 federal states elect their regional governments at various times, and these often produce different results from the nationwide ballot held at fixed times every five years.

Furthermore, both Thuringia and Saxony are states in what used to be communist-ruled East Germany, where the AfD and other previously fringe political movements have always done well.

In practice, however, the latest election result is the expression of a deep and much broader frustration felt by many German voters with the policies of their national government in Berlin, the capital.

And the shock waves will be felt far beyond Thuringia and Saxony, for they confirm a broader European trend of voting for extremist political movements espousing anti-migrant and particularly anti-Islam policies.

Since it reunified with communist-ruled former East Germany more than three decades ago, Germany has invested an astounding €1.6 trillion (S$2.31 trillion, or the equivalent of about three times the size of Singapore's entire current economy) in improving the infrastructure and economy of its eastern territories.