{"id":676061,"date":"2026-09-07T00:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/676061\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T00:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:23:10","slug":"voters-in-eastern-german-state-have-blown-up-post-unification-politics-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/676061\/","title":{"rendered":"Voters in eastern German state have blown up post-unification politics \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sunday, voters in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt blew up post-unification German politics. And on Monday the mangled wreckage will fall on political Berlin.<\/p>\n

Saxony-Anhalt is just a quarter the size of the island of Ireland, yet its 1.7 million voters \u2013 just 3 per cent of the total German electorate \u2013 have hit the reset button on politics in Europe\u2019s largest country.<\/p>\n

It is 36 years since East Germany joined a unified country along West German lines, importing its laws, norms and political system.<\/p>\n

Since then power in Saxony-Anhalt was shared back and forth between centre-left Social Democratic Party and the centre-right Christian Democratic Union.<\/p>\n

No more. Sunday\u2019s results shatter old certainties without making clear the new political rules of engagement.<\/p>\n

In the first democratic election of 1990 these two parties pulled in 65 per cent of voter support. Now, together, they attract just 26 per cent in Saxony-Anhalt, almost 20 points behind the AfD or Alternative for Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It started life as an anti-bailout party but surged to popularity in the last decade after the refugee and asylum crisis.<\/p>\n

While one in two voters said on Sunday this remains of concern for them, it has been surpassed by cost-of-living concerns, with 70 per cent of voters worried they can no longer pay their bills and maintain their standard of living.<\/p>\n

As polls closed on Sunday evening, jubilant AfD leaders could be heard cheering behind the scenes on live German television. They are confident that Saxony-Anhalt is just the beginning.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Far-right AfD wins key state election, throwing Germany\u2019s politics into uncertain eraOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It is Germany\u2019s most popular party at federal level, too, on 27-28 per cent support. And it hopes for further momentum from two further state elections later this month.<\/p>\n

AfD leaders in Berlin are confident this ongoing surge \u2013 and growing panic among its political rivals \u2013 will increase pressure on the infighting coalition of Friedrich Merz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And on Monday morning, Germany\u2019s 70-year-old leader will go into full damage-limitation mode when he faces the press.<\/p>\n

He will point out how German state governments have power mostly over local issues \u2013 infrastructure, education and health \u2013 with no direct influence over issues like security and foreign policy.<\/p>\n

But his government is in the middle of far-reaching reforms and much of this policy \u2013 in particular tax and welfare reforms \u2013 require a stable Bundesrat majority.<\/p>\n

Many of these measures require the backing of both the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, and the Bundesrat, the upper house where the 16 federal states meet. <\/p>\n

An AfD-led \u2013 or politically instable \u2013 Saxony-Anhalt could slow down or even collapse reforms and, potentially, his coalition government.<\/p>\n

Next month Saxony-Anhalt steps up for the rotating presidency of the Bundesrat, with huge influence over the parliamentary agenda and voting schedule.<\/p>\n

Voters in Saxony-Anhalt have spoken, but the rest of Germany could soon feel the effects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Sunday, voters in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt blew up post-unification German politics. And on Monday the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[113297,9,10,113296,13,14,6622,6621,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-676061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-afd-alternative-for-germany","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-christian-democratic-union","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-germany","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117226910765666559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}