٠٠:٠٤:٢٥Erfurt locals shared their reactions on Monday after the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was left the strongest party in the state of Thuringia following Sunday's federal elections.
While the AfD came fifth on the national level, with 10.3 percent of the vote according to the official provisional results, the party came first in the east German state with 24 percent, and winning four out of seven of the state's constituencies.
According to official provisional national results, the SPD came first with 25.7 percent and 206 seats, while Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), along with its Bavarian sister party, came second with 24.1 percent and 196 seats. The Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), both of which will be key to forming any new government, came in third with 14.8 percent, and 118 seats, and fourth with 11.5 percent, and 92 seats, respectively.
The AfD's state leader Bjorn Hocke was one of the heads of the far-right 'Der Flugel' (The Wing) faction of the AfD, which was under observation by Germany's domestic intelligence agency as "a right-wing extremist endeavour against the free democratic basic order," prior to its dissolution. A German court ruled in September 2019 that Hocke could legally be referred to as a fascist as such a designation "rests on verifiable fact."
Germany: Erfurt residents react after AfD strongest party in Thuringia after elections
Erfurt locals shared their reactions on Monday after the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was left the strongest party in the state of Thuringia following Sunday's federal elections.
While the AfD came fifth on the national level, with 10.3 percent of the vote according to the official provisional results, the party came first in the east German state with 24 percent, and winning four out of seven of the state's constituencies.
According to official provisional national results, the SPD came first with 25.7 percent and 206 seats, while Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), along with its Bavarian sister party, came second with 24.1 percent and 196 seats. The Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), both of which will be key to forming any new government, came in third with 14.8 percent, and 118 seats, and fourth with 11.5 percent, and 92 seats, respectively.
The AfD's state leader Bjorn Hocke was one of the heads of the far-right 'Der Flugel' (The Wing) faction of the AfD, which was under observation by Germany's domestic intelligence agency as "a right-wing extremist endeavour against the free democratic basic order," prior to its dissolution. A German court ruled in September 2019 that Hocke could legally be referred to as a fascist as such a designation "rests on verifiable fact."
Erfurt locals shared their reactions on Monday after the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was left the strongest party in the state of Thuringia following Sunday's federal elections.
While the AfD came fifth on the national level, with 10.3 percent of the vote according to the official provisional results, the party came first in the east German state with 24 percent, and winning four out of seven of the state's constituencies.
According to official provisional national results, the SPD came first with 25.7 percent and 206 seats, while Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), along with its Bavarian sister party, came second with 24.1 percent and 196 seats. The Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), both of which will be key to forming any new government, came in third with 14.8 percent, and 118 seats, and fourth with 11.5 percent, and 92 seats, respectively.
The AfD's state leader Bjorn Hocke was one of the heads of the far-right 'Der Flugel' (The Wing) faction of the AfD, which was under observation by Germany's domestic intelligence agency as "a right-wing extremist endeavour against the free democratic basic order," prior to its dissolution. A German court ruled in September 2019 that Hocke could legally be referred to as a fascist as such a designation "rests on verifiable fact."