AfD electoral victory: Political earthquake or tempest in a teapot? | Rolf Nikel

AfD’s victory in a local election in the state of Saxony-Anhalt marks the first time a far-right German party scored an electoral victory of this magnitude since the dawn of the Nazi era. But does it mean that the Alternative for Germany party is on an unstoppable march to take power in the country?

“It is a political earthquake, no question. But we should not fall into the trap and repeat the narrative that the AfD is now trying to portray, which is: ‘We are on an upward trajectory. This is the beginning of a new era,’” Rolf Nikel, Former German Ambassador to Poland, told TVP World, stressing that Saxony-Anhalt is one of the smaller states and AfD still needs a coalition partner to rule there, which would pose an even greater obstacle if they won only a plurality of votes in elections on a federal level. What is more, Germany “is stable. It has stable institutions. It has a stable constitution. And I don't think we should overestimate what has happened.”

“Of course, on the regional level you decide about many things. You decide about how you deal with the press. You decide about how to deal with the courts, with the administration, etc.” Nikel said, but concluded that “the AfD, when it comes to really showing what it can do, it will show that it doesn’t have any answers to the questions that are in front of us today.”

Join TVP World’s Klaudia Czerwińska and her guest, as they explore what the result means for Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his reform agenda, whether other nationalist parties across Europe can capitalize on the AfD’s success, and why Germany’s support for Ukraine is unlikely to change despite the far right’s electoral gains.

Chapters:
00:00 The importance of AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt
02:16 Regional risks and Germany’s stability
04:05 Pressure on Chancellor Merz and the federal government
06:11 European far-right movements and Poland
09:16 Implications for support to Ukraine

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