They are the strongest party in East Germany, they have become the second national force.

Behind the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the second most votes in Sunday's European Parliament (EP) elections. However, the support of the anti-immigration party led by Björn Höcke and Alice Weidel is the highest in some East German states, such as Thuringia, which is considered one of AfD's strongholds, according to preliminary data, it exceeds 35 percent, the German public service ARD news reported.
According to ARD's forecast on Sunday evening, the AfD became by far the strongest grouping in the EP elections in East Germany. As it was announced in the election evaluation program of the German public television on Sunday evening, the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany achieved results of between 27 and 35.5 percent in the eastern federal states, including the capital, Berlin.

In the capital, the AfD was followed by the CDU's list with 20.7 percent support, and in third place was the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which has only existed for a year, with 13.1 percent.

Alice Weidel, co-president of the AfD, told ZDF on Sunday evening that she was satisfied with the result, especially considering that the internal political developments of the last few weeks have affected her party.

He emphasized that the AfD had gained significant strength compared to the last EP elections in 2019, especially in East Germany.

As he said, he sees the reason for this in the fact that voters are generally more critical of Europe.

At the national level, the conservative CDU/CSU party alliance together obtained 29.6 percent of the votes, the AfD achieved 16.4 percent, while the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens (Die Grüne), which make up the government in Berlin none of the parties gained more than 14 percent support.

The performance of the Greens, marked by the name of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, is considered disastrous by German analysts. The Free Democrats lost a similar number of supporters (5 percent), and even the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (5.7 percent) fared better.

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Cover photo: Tino Chrupalla, co-chairman of the opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party (j) and Alice Weidel, deputy chairwoman of the AfD, at the party's Berlin campaign center for the European Parliament elections on June 9, 2024.
MTI/EPA/Filip Singer