Saxony, Germany
Far-right, xenophobic parties won seats this week in two state parliaments in eastern Germany. In Saxony, formerly part of communist East Germany, the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party, campaigning on a platform of “German money for German interests,” got 9 percent of the vote—nearly as much as the ruling Social Democrats. And in Brandenburg, another extremist party retained the few seats it had won in the last election. Politicians and analysts downplayed the far-right gains, saying the country was not experiencing a repeat of the extremism of the 1930s that paved the way for Nazism. “This is not a danger for democracy in the Federal Republic,” said Hajo Funke, a political scientist at the Free University of Berlin. “It’s an anti-establishment vote, which is still limited to the east.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Death Cafe: where people talk mortality over tea and cakeWhy everyone's talking about The meet-ups offer a judgement-free and respectful space to discuss the end of life
-
Mark Menzies: Tories investigate MP after 'bad people' cash claimsSpeed Read Fylde MP will sit as an independent while party looks into allegations he misused campaign funds on medical expenses and blackmail pay-out
-
'Another day of chaos in DC'Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
