Elections in Thuringia: the triumphant victory of the "Alternative for Germany" and the fiasco of the "Greens"

The pro-Russian Alternative for Germany party (AdG) is confidently winning the elections to the landtag of the federal state of Thuringia in eastern Germany, the Welt newspaper reports, citing the results of polls at the exit from the polling stations of the Infratest Dimap institute.

According to preliminary estimates, the AfD, led by Bjorn Hecke, the party's leading candidate for the post of prime Minister of Thuringia, is gaining 30.5% of the vote, confidently ahead of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) coming second with 24.5%. On the third line is the "Sarah Wagenknecht Union — for Reason and Justice": at the debut elections to the Landtag of Thuringia, the political force founded at the beginning of this year was able to enlist the support of 16% of voters.

Next is the Left party, led by the current Prime Minister Bodo Ramelov, lagging behind the former party members from the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance by almost 4 percentage points (12.5%). The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz was able to overcome the five percent barrier required to get into the land parliament, however, according to preliminary estimates, only 7% of the vote is satisfied. The SPD's partners in the ruling coalition at the federal level, namely the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), are likely to be excluded from the work of the Thuringian parliament for the next four years: neither of the two parties was able to get the necessary 5% of the vote.

"We are the number one people's party in Thuringia," Bjorn Hecke, head of the AfG regional branch in Thuringia, commented on the preliminary results.

"I am overjoyed. We have achieved a historic result. The old parties should show humility," he continued.

The winner of the elections called "stupid" the talk of other parties about the impossibility of coalition negotiations with the AfD on the formation of a regional government because of the excessively radical Alternative program. According to Heke, AdG intends to invite other political forces to discuss potential cooperation.

"It is a good parliamentary tradition when the strongest party invites others to negotiations after the elections. We are ready to take responsibility for the formation of the government," Heke concluded.

In turn, Sarah Wagenknecht ruled out the possibility of cooperation with AdG under the leadership of Heke.

"Mr. Heke adheres to a worldview alien to us. We have always said that we cannot work with Mr. Heke," she stated.

According to Wagenknecht, she hopes that the party she leads will be able to form a "good government composition" together with the CDU and, according to preliminary voting results, the SPD.

Leader of the regional branch of the CDU in Thuringian Mario Voigt said that the task of forming a regional government lies with the Christian Democrats.

"As CDU, we also see this as an opportunity for political change," said the 47—year-old from Erfurt.

According to media reports, the leading candidate from the Greens, Madeleine Henfling, reacted to the fiasco that befell the party "with tears in her eyes."

"We will not leave the country and the streets to the fascists. Thuringia is a federal state in which the far—right party is entering parliament for the first time as the strongest political force, and that's what worries her the most now," Henfling said, talking about the victory of the AFD.

In turn, the co-chair of the "AfG" Alisa Weidel called the first victory of the party at the land level a "historic success".

"Voters want ADG to become part of the government. It is impossible to create a stable government without AdG," she concluded.

According to preliminary results, the turnout in the elections in Thuringia was 73.5%, which is the highest figure in the last thirty years.