Voting Processes - AfD Emerges Victorious in European Elections in Brandenburg, While SPD Lags Behind BSW
The AfD has won the European elections in Brandenburg once again, with preliminary results showing they've earned 27.5% of the votes, as announced by the state election office early Monday morning. The CDU came in second place with 18.4% of the votes, while the Left Party secured a two-digit result.
The new party, which participated for the first time, surpassed the SPD, who suffered losses. The largest losses were experienced by the Left and the Greens.
A total of 2.1 million people were called to vote in Brandenburg for the European elections and the local elections on Sunday. The voter turnout for the European elections was significantly higher than in 2019 at 67.5%.
The AfD gained 7.6 percentage points compared to the European election five years ago, outperforming the other parties. The CDU followed with 18.4% of the votes. The SPD had 13.1% and worsened by 4.1 percentage points. The BSW took over the SPD from its standstill with 13.8%. The Left received 4.4% of the votes, but experienced considerable decline (minus 7.9 percentage points). The Greens also lost popularity, with 6% of the votes. However, in neighboring Berlin, it was the Greens who were the strongest party.
The AfD was unable to win the European election in all 14 districts and 4 free cities in Brandenburg. For instance, in the state capital Potsdam, the Greens were the strongest party with 15.5%. In Potsdam-Mittelmark, the CDU just edged out the AfD with 20.8% and 20.5%, respectively.
The state leader of the AfD in Brandenburg, René Springer, sees this as a positive sign for his party, ahead of the state parliamentary election in September. He expressed his belief that "this is a great success considering the campaigns against us since the beginning of the year, which shows that we cannot be stopped." The AfD is classified as a suspected right-wing extremist organization by the Brandenburg state security agency.
The SPD blames the losses experienced in the European election as a lack of trust in the federal SPD. SPD Secretary General David Kolesnyk stated, "This clearly shows that there is currently no trust in the federal SPD." Similarly, the Greens were also displeased with the outcome, with state chairwoman Hanna Große Holtrup saying, "We are rather disappointed with the result of the European election."
The Brandenburg CDU sees the results as a warning sign for the traffic light parties. State chairman Jan Redmann declared, "The traffic light was also rejected in Brandenburg tonight. The losses for the SPD and the Greens in the European election in Brandenburg show: The people are deeply frustrated with the politics of the traffic light. They are driving more and more people into the arms of the AfD."
In the 2019 European election, the AfD led nationwide with 19.9%, followed by the CDU with 18.0% and the SPD with 17.2%. The Left and the Greens each received 12.3% of the votes, and the FDP secured 4.4% of the votes.
Read also:
- In contrast to the AfD's success in Brandenburg, The Left struggled in the European elections, experiencing a significant decline in votes.
- Sahra Wagenknecht's party, The Left, faced a considerable setback in the European elections held in Potsdam, the state capital.
- Despite the CDU losing ground to the AfD in the European elections in Brandenburg, they still managed to secure a strong second place position.
- The SPD, traditionally a dominant force in Brandenburg, was outperformed by both the AfD and the BSW in the recent European elections.
- The European elections saw a surge in voter turnout in Brandenburg, with the SPD unfortunately failing to capitalize on this increase, leading to their poor performance.
