German far-right AfD party support grows in western Germany

Germany's Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won its first seats in the Hamburg state parliamentary election on Sunday where the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) topped the poll. The election in Hamburg is the first western state in which the AfD has been successful, gaining 6.1 percent of the vote. The far-right party is likely to move on to the next elections in Bremen, another northwestern state in Germany, in May.

The AfD has apparently struck a chord with certain groups of Germans and gained a social ground in German society. The party has a relatively successful history going back to 2014 in elections in eastern states and is now making headway in western Germany. The party received about 10 percent of the vote in three eastern states of Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Saxony in 2014. The party won its first seats in the Saxony state parliament in regional legislative elections held in late August 2014 when anti-immigration issues were added to the party's agenda. The party also called for a referendum to stop the further building of mosques with minarets in Saxony.

The AfD, founded nearly two years ago, has a eurosceptic and an anti-eurozone platform. The burgeoning party also promotes far-right populism and xenophobia. The rise of far-right extremism has dominated the political landscape, with an increasing polarization of German society that fuels existential fears such as the Islamization of the country by the increasing number of immigrants who have fled from conflicts in the Middle East. Along with a general anti-Islam populism, there are informal contacts between the AfD and far-right extremist groups that are already well-established. As the mainstream parties like Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and SPD joined counter-demonstrations to condemn anti-Islam marches organized by far-right extremist groups like the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) and its copycat groups.

Promotion of hatred for Muslims and immigrants serves the rise of the AfD. The anti-Islam marches held in several German cities, but primarily in the eastern city of Dresden, which has attracted many with anti-Islam views. While the anti-Islam marches continued to take place in several German cities, polls suggested that the AfD would receive more than 5 percent of the vote in the Hamburg election, narrowly clearing a cut-off threshold under electoral law of 5 percent, the required rate under German electoral law to take seats in state legislatures.

Sunday's election also had Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU score its worst election results with just 15.9 percent of the vote, far less than the 21.9 percent it received four years ago. The AfD's challenge from the right became apparent for the CDU to avoid losing more popularity in the traditionally left-leaning port city.

The SPD won a resounding victory with 45.7 percent of the vote. The environmentalist Green party garnered 12.2 percent of the vote. The SPD's vote share in Hamburg was nearly 3 percentage points lower than it was four years ago. Therefore, in order to govern the state for another four years, the SDU needs a coalition partner to form a government. The most likely candidate is the environmentalist Green Party.