Editorial: Le Monde

• For the first time since WWII, the extreme right leads in a region of Germany, Thuringia, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party scoring nearly 33% of the votes.
• AfD is likely to have a blocking minority which will allow it to influence some key decisions though other parties have warned they will not form a coalition with it.
• The regional election results are seen as a disaster for the Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) tripartite government. The SPD, the Greens, and FDP liberals collectively achieved just slightly more than 10%.
• Despite the radical positions of AfD in Saxony and Thuringia, they succeeded in capturing a third of the votes.

Conclusion: The rise of AfD, a party founded only eleven years ago, in a country with the historical, demographic and economic weight of Germany, is more than worrying. The elites of this country bear the responsibility not to let racist and nationalist visions, which undermine the foundations of liberal and democratic order, thrive further.

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