Saxony-Anhalt: The Vote Could Break the System
Saxony-Anhalt: The Vote Could Break the System By Paolo Falconio The result of the elections in Saxony-Anhalt cannot be read merely as yet another advance by Germany’s radical right. The 43.8% won by the AfD, with 39 seats out of 83, represents something more than an electoral victory: it is the manifestation of a profound fracture between a substantial part of society and the political system that claims to represent it. The CDU has collapsed to 17.2%, losing almost twenty percentage points, while voter turnout reached 77.8%, the highest level recorded in the state since 1989. The politically most significant aspect, however, is the composition of the AfD’s support. The radical right is no longer attracting only conservative, nationalist or eastern German voters, but is also penetrating social groups traditionally associated with the left and, above all, with social democracy. Among workers, the AfD reaches 59%, while the SPD stops at 6%; among employees, it reaches 46%, compared with...