Exit polls from the elections in the two eastern German states of Thuringia and Saxony give the far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) a 30 per cent share of the vote in both states. The three government parties, The Social Democrats, The Greens and The Free Democrats have polled very poorly. The Free Democrats not reaching the five per cent barrier, will have no seats in both parliaments.
The Christian Democrats are relieved with the results and most likely will be the leading party in the coalitions in both states.
A big winner in the elections is the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance. The party is a breakaway from The Left Party and carries the name of the party leader, Sahra Wagenknecht.
She is an interesting woman. Born in Jena in the former GDR, her mother German, her father Iranian, who later disappeared in Iran.
She studied philosophy, German literature and economics. It is rumoured that she knows some of the works of Goethe off-by-heart.
She is married to Oscar Lafontane, 24 years his junior, who was for a short time finance minister in Gerhard Schröder’s coalition government.
None of the elected parties in today’s election is willing to coalesce with the AfD.
The Catholic and Protestant Churches and the Jewish community, along with a large number of organisations advised the electorate not to vote for the AfD. It is considered a dangerous political party with echoes of Hitler’s Nazi party.
It so happens today is the anniversary of the first day of World War II, the day Germany invaded Poland.
Erfurt is the capital of Thuringia and Dresden the seat of parliament for Saxony.
Weimar, the home of Goethe, is in Thuringia.
1 comment:
Since you mentioned Oskar Lafotaine, I thought you might find the article he published in April on 'Nachdenkseiten' interesting.
The title is as follows: "When lies become truth ...Only if we continue the search for truth do we have a chance of finding peace."
He writes further: 'Everything that goes on in political reporting follows a certain narrative. And as a rule, the narrative also has to do with propaganda. That's why, when it comes to important political issues, I strongly advise you to look at parallel sources on the spot [. . .] Each and every one of us is called upon to be vigilant [. . .]. Today we can find out a lot quickly on the Internet through divergent opinions, through the media of other countries [. . .]. [Have] mistrust of everyone, much more than before.'
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=113162
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