Far-right AfD wins vote to lead German district for first time

AfD is tapping into voter fears about recession, migration and the green transition, analysts say

Robert Sesselmann of the far-right Alternative for Germany party speaks at an election event in Sonneberg, eastern Germany. AFP

A candidate from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a vote on Sunday to become a district leader in Europe's biggest economy for the first time, a breakthrough for the party which has hit record highs in national polls.

Germany's mainstream parties officially refuse to co-operate with the 10-year old AfD due to its views, but the party won a run-off vote in the Sonneberg district in the eastern state of Thuringia with its candidate garnering 52.8 per cent of the vote.

The party is currently riding a wave of popular discontent with Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz's awkward coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats which is dogged by infighting over policy and the budget.

Polling at 19 per cent-20 per cent, behind the opposition conservatives, the AfD is tapping into voter fears about recession, migration and the green transition, say analysts. It even plans to nominate a chancellor candidate in the 2025 federal election.

While far-right parties have gained ground around Europe, the strength of the AfD is particularly sensitive in Germany due to the country's Nazi past.

The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, expressed his shock.

“This is a watershed that this country's democratic political forces cannot simply accept,” he told RND media.

Particularly strong in the former communist east of the country, polls suggest the AfD may win three eastern state votes next year.

A clear victory for the AfD's Robert Sesselmann in the district, which has a population of around 56,000 people, sends a signal to Berlin, say analysts, especially as all other parties in Sonneberg joined forces in a front against him.

Mr Sesselmann was forced into a run-off against a conservative candidate after a vote two weeks ago. The conservative candidate won 47.2 per cent on Sunday.

The party opposes economic sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war and disputes that human activity is a cause of climate change.

The domestic intelligence agency said this month that far-right extremism posed the biggest threat to democracy in Germany and warned voters about backing the AfD.

Formed a decade ago as an anti-euro party, its popularity surged after the 2015 migrant crisis and it entered parliament in 2017, becoming the official opposition.