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Germany’s far-right AfD is no longer shouting from the sidelines. It is now just three seats away from controlling a German state for the first time.
The party won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt, taking 39 of the state parliament’s 83 seats and more than doubling its support since the last election.
Its manifesto calls for faster mass deportations...Schools would also change. Refugee children would be taught separately, with lessons based on the idea that they will eventually leave Germany.
Winning, however, does not guarantee power. Germany’s main parties have long refused to work with the AfD, creating a political “firewall” around it. Chancellor Friedrich Merz says his center-right CDU will not break that rule.
The AfD must now find a partner, persuade individual MPs to support it or try to govern without a majority. One possible ally is the left-wing BSW, which disagrees with the AfD on economics but shares its opposition to large-scale immigration, German support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
What makes this election particularly important is what the AfD says it would do in government.
Its manifesto calls for faster mass deportations and larger detention centers for migrants awaiting removal. It also wants Ukrainian refugees sent home, claiming parts of Ukraine are safe, while ending German support for Kyiv and rebuilding ties with Moscow.
Schools would also change. Refugee children would be taught separately, with lessons based on the idea that they will eventually leave Germany. Children with disabilities would also be placed in separate schools, while Pride flags would be banned.
The AfD wants greater focus on traditional German values and less classroom time spent on the Nazi era. One party politician summed it up as "More Bismarck, less Hitler.”
Culture is another target. The party wants to stop funding art it considers “anti-German” and has attacked Bauhaus, Germany’s world-famous art and design movement, for not being German enough. Critics point out that the Nazis also attacked Bauhaus and forced it to close in 1933.
Could Cyprus follow?
Cyprus is not Germany, and ELAM is not the AfD. But the shift toward harder nationalist politics is already visible here.
ELAM won 10.9% in May’s parliamentary election and doubled its seats from four to eight, becoming the island’s third-largest parliamentary party.
Migration is part of that growth, but it is not the whole story. The cost of living, housing pressure, corruption, and frustration with traditional parties can also push voters toward movements offering tough, simple answers.
