A new poll from Germany delivers some shocking results that point to profound political changes on the horizon, with Sahra Wagenknecht and her new BSW party potentially overturning the political order in the east of the country. The same poll, which shows the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party still commanding strong support, is likely to fuel continued panic in the ruling left-liberal government, which is now floating a ban against the anti-immigration party.
Establishment wiped out in the East
The poll, from the respected Wahlkreisprognose firm, shows a completely scrambled political map in the east of Germany if Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW party is added to the polling sample. Her newly formed political party is an offshoot of the Left Party (Die LInke) but is known for its anti-Ukraine stance, and at least according to its leader, is for stricter immigration controls.
Falls das Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht zur Landtagswahl in Sachsen-Anhalt antreten würde, käme es aus dem Stand auf 23 Prozent der Wählerstimmen. Die #CDU bliebe dann knapp vor der #AfD. Alle anderen Parteien würden an der Fünfprozenthürde scheitern. Mehr dazu:… https://t.co/QxlF0gIKqz pic.twitter.com/eqJ21T8EUN
— Wahlkreisprognose (@wkprognose) January 30, 2024Wagenknecht is particularly popular in the East; however, despite claims that her party would siphon voters from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), it appears her party would instead blow up nearly all the other establishment parties in the East while only shaving a few points off an already dominant AfD.
In the new poll, AfD received 27 percent of the vote, CDU 28.5 percent, and Wagenknecht’s new party 23 percent. The entire ruling government, the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democrats (FDP) would be entirely kicked out of parliament, as there is a 5-percent threshold for participation and none of them would meet it any longer.
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If these results were truly to come to pass in an actual election, it could trample on the political status quo and serve as a harbinger of what could happen in Germany’s entire East, where the AfD holds first place in nearly every state.
In the scenario presented by the poll, only three parties would enter parliament in Saxon Anhalt, and forming a coalition between any three of them would be extremely difficult, as both the BSW and CDU are on different ends of the political spectrum, and both parties have vowed not to work with the AfD.
The same polling firm, Wahlkreisprognose, had conducted a poll in the state just last week without BSW included, which showed vastly different results.
In that poll, which excludes BSW, the AfD is at 32 percent, the CDU at 34 percent, the Left Party is at 6 percent, SPD and the Greens at five, and the FDP at seven.
The AfD’s continued strength despite mass protests and calls from the government to oppose the party is leading to a crisis, with top politicians now calling on their political rival to be banned in a complete deviation from the democratic principles they claim to uphold, critics say.
