Why did Germans vote for the far-right AfD party?

It’s not just the win, but the landslide scale of the win that has shocked Germany – and sent ripples throughout Europe.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been growing in popularity but no one anticipated the election result in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt where the far-right party won 44 per cent of the vote on a record turnout of 76 per cent.

The party’s manifesto promises several anti-immigration measures including mass deportations and separate schools for refugees; its education plan emphasises a new curriculum based on traditional German values, while it proudly proclaims itself pro-Russian.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz took office a year ago promising to “halve” AfD support. Instead he has watched that fate befall his own party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). So how compromised is he by this result?

The AfD vote signals a clear direction of travel in German politics but as Irish Times Berlin correspondent Derek Scally reports, it is also a country that understands its history and the task of defeating extremism.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Andrew McNair. 

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