Photo: AfD Alternative für Deutschland
Government parties in Germany have been given a kick up the backside by voters in the EU elections. According to exit polls published after voting closed at 6 p.m. the anti-immigration, anti-globalist AfD appears to have finished strongly in second place despite a recent scandal which resulted in their expulsion from the right-wing Identity and Democracy group in the EP. The party is projected to receive 16.5% of the votes and 17 seats, an addition of six seats in the EP. The AfD got 11% of the vote in 2019 and just 7% in 2014.
The centre-right opposition CDU/CSU alliance received 30% of the votes, which would give them 29 seats in the European Parliament (EP), the same number they got five years ago.
The traffic light coalition government appears to have failed to deal with the migration, energy, and cost-of-living crises to the voters’ satisfaction.
The governing Social Democrats (SPD) are projected to be third with 14 seats (two fewer than last time), the Greens look to have taken an enormous loss with just 12 seats (compared to 21 in 2019), and the liberal FDP at 5 seats (the same as 2019).
Germany: Young People Voting AfD
According to German media, 17% of young voters (aged 16-24) voted for the anti-immigration AfD party in the EU elections, a 10 point increase compared to five years ago. The only other party to have such a high share of the young voters is the centre-right CDU/CSU alliance.
This was the first election in which 16- and 17-year-olds could vote in Germany, and despite hoping to attract the youth vote, only 11% voted for the Greens and just 9% for the Social Democrats. AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla described his party’s results as “historic,” adding that they will boost the AfD before three regional elections in the eastern states of the country in the autumn. AfD is predicted to finish second at 16%, a 5-point increase compared to the elections in 2019.
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/eu-elections-minute-by-minute