AfD anti-immigration party almost triples its seats in another western German state election | Eastern NC Now

In what has been described by the German media as a "debacle" for the left of center Social Democrats who had governed the western German state of Rheinland-Pfaltz for 35 years going into Sunday's state election, they have seen a major loss of votes and seats while parties of the right advanced.  The biggest winner was the populist nationalist anti-immigration Alternativ fur Deutschland (AfD) which almost tripled its seats.  The Social Democrats were the biggest loser.

Running first was the traditional conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) which won 39 seats, up from 31, in the 105 seat state Landtag, with 31.0% of the vote, a gain in vote share of 3.3 points.  In third place was the populist nationalist anti-immigration AfD which won 24 seats, a gain of 15, with 19.5% of the vote, a gain of 11.2 points.

Parties of the right now hold 63 seats to 42 for parties of the left in a state whose outgoing government was a coalition of the Social Democrats and Greens.  To put this in perspective, the Social Democrats have run the state government of Rheinland Pfaltz for 35 years.  It has been one of their strongholds and now it has fallen.

The Social Democrats won 32 seats, a loss of 7 with a vote share of 25.9%, a loss of 9.8 points since the last election.  Their Green Party allies managed to hold on to all 10 of their seats but saw their vote share decline to 7.9%, a loss of 1.4 points.

Two parties that had a few seats in the last Landtag fell below the 5% threshold to be awarded seats and lost all of them.  These were the populist nationalist anti-immigration Free Voters who received 4.2% of the vote and the pro-business Free Democrats who tallied only 2.0%.  Parties that also ran but failed to win seats were the far left Left Party and the populist anti-immigration party of the left, the BSW.

this result follows similar major gains for AfD in last month's state election in the western German state of Baden-Wurttemberg.  AfD is holding a wide lead in the polls over all other parties in the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpompern, which will vote two weeks apart in September.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/rhineland-afd-doubles-vote-spd-crashes/

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ORIGINAL POST:

According to the exit polls, parties of the right have triumphed  in Germany's second state election this year, defeating a sitting Social Democrat led government.  The biggest winner was the populist nationalist anti-immigration Alternativ fur Deutschland (AfD) which more than doubled its vote share since the last election.  The traditional conservative CDU made smaller gains to emerge as the largest party.  Meanwhile both parties in the left of center governing coalition, the Social Democrats and the Greens lost vote share, with the losses particularly heavy for the Social Democrats.

AfD won 20.1%, of the vote, up from 8.3% in the last election.  The CDU won 30.9%, up from 27.8%.   The Social Democrats dropped from 35.7% in the last election to 25.9% this time. Their Green Party allies dropped from 9.3% to 8.1%.   The pro-business Free Democrats and populist nationalist right Free Voters failed to cross the 5% threshold and lost all their seats.

https://www.fr.de/politik/2026-erste-ergebnisse-der-landtagswahl-rheinland-pfalz-94228961.html

This follows similar results in the earlier state election in Baden-Wurrtemberg where AfD more than doubled its seats while the CDU also made gains and leftwing parties lost seats.

In both states, a CDU/AfD coalition of the right would have a solid majority but the CDU refuses to work with the AfD, so the likely result will be a CDU led government with the Social Democrats as a partner, neutering anything conservative they may try to accomplish.  There is now an organized group within the CDU trying to change this  insane policy of Chancellor Merz.

In Rheinland-Pfaltz, this election right of center parties won a combined 55.9% of the vote compared to 38.4% combined for parties of the left.

Three more German states will vote this year, all in eastern Germany, Sacony-Anhalt on September 6, and Mecklenburg-Vorpompern and the capital of Berlin, both on September 20.  AfD has a wide lead over all other parties in the first two states, and is poised for a major increase in vote share in Berlin

Meanwhile, Slovenia is also voting today, and polls have shown a surge by the populist nationalist anti-immigration Slovenian Democratic Party putting it in a too close to call race with the governing liberal / globalist Freedom Movement.