Voting process - The AfD party triumphs significantly in Saxony's European elections.
The far-right party, AfD, claimed victory in Saxony's European election, earning an impressive 31.8% of the votes. The State Election Office's tally, released in the wee hours of Monday morning, revealed this stunning success. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was forced to accept their defeat with only 21.8% of the votes. The left party trailed behind at 4.9%.
The AfD's victory was not a new development, as they had previously triumphed in the 2019 European Parliament election with 25.3% of the votes. However, their success this time around significantly outstripped that of the CDU's meager 23.0%.
AfD's state chairman, Jörg Urban, expressed his delight with the preliminary results of his party's triumph at the national level. "We've become the strongest opposition party in Germany," he proclaimed. Urban was also pleased to see the "eco-socialists of the Greens" suffer a major blow.
In Germany's three largest cities, the AfD dominated the European election. In Dresden, they took the lead with 22.4% (a narrow margin over the CDU's 19.5%). The Greens secured 11.9%, while the Left Party garnered 10.6% of the votes. In Leipzig, the AfD won with a decisive 32.6%, besting the CDU (24.8%) and BSW (12.5%). Chemnitz's AfD came out on top too, with 28.2%, beating both the CDU (20%) and the BSW (15.2%).
Read also:
Sahra Wagenknecht, a prominent politician, criticized the AfD's victory in Saxony's European elections, stating that it was a threat to the EU and the principles of a democratic state. The results of the elections prompted discussions about the role of the state constitutional protection in safeguarding democratic values within the Free State. The AfD's success in these elections also raised concerns among European politicians, who feared the impact on the upcoming European elections. Despite the AfD's victory in Dresden, the CDU maintained its strong presence in the other major cities in Saxony, securing respectable votes in Leipzig and Chemnitz.
