Far-left and far-right parties win big in Germany, shaking up politics

Germany held two important state elections last Sunday, and the results surprised a lot of people. In one state, a far-right party called the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won the most votes. In another, a far-left party called Die Linke — which means 'the Left' — scored a historic victory. Both results showed that many German voters are turning away from the country's big, traditional parties.

The Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, got one of its worst results ever in the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. The CDU is led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Germany's top leader, and it has been one of the country's most powerful parties since 1945. The party failed to win enough votes — just 5 percent — to even get seats in the state parliament. People at the CDU's watch party gasped out loud when they heard the news.

The CDU has run Germany for 17 of the last 24 years, often with the help of other centrist parties. Centrist means the party tries to stay in the middle of the political spectrum, not too far left or right. But more and more German voters seem to want something different. Chancellor Merz's approval ratings have fallen to between 10 and 15 percent, record lows for a sitting German leader.

Many Germans are unhappy because the economy has been growing slowly and everyday costs have gone up. Political analyst Michael Broker said the vote was a message from angry voters: 'It's an anti-elite election, and it's an anti-Merz election.' People also worry that the promise that their children will have a better life than them is no longer coming true. These concerns pushed voters toward parties with bolder, louder solutions.

The two winning parties offer very different ideas for fixing Germany's problems. The far-right AfD wants to limit immigration and reopen a pipeline that brings cheap natural gas from Russia. The far-left Die Linke wants to raise taxes on the rich and take apartments away from big corporate landlords to help renters. Critics say both parties offer simple answers to very complicated questions without clear plans for paying for their ideas.

In Berlin, Die Linke is led by Elif Eralp, who is expected to become the city's next mayor. She modeled her campaign on Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor of New York City, using social media and personal outreach to reach young voters. Her plan to take over more than 200,000 apartments from corporate landlords and give renters more protection was very popular. However, other parties say the plan could cost around 20 billion euros and it is not clear how she would pay for it.

The AfD's win in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania came after a similar first-place finish earlier in the month in a nearby eastern state called Saxony-Anhalt. Even with these wins, the AfD has not been able to form a government on its own because other parties refuse to work with it. This refusal is called a 'firewall' policy, designed to keep extreme parties from taking power. AfD leader Alice Weidel is pushing for that firewall to be removed.

Both elections took place in eastern Germany, which was once a separate Communist country before reuniting with the west in 1990. Many people in the east have long felt poorer and less respected than those in the west, which has made protest voting more common there. Protest voting means choosing a party outside the mainstream to send a message that you are unhappy. This trend has now spread to Berlin, the country's capital.

Nationally, the AfD is now polling at about 28 percent, ahead of every other party in Germany. The CDU sits at around 20 percent, with its coalition partner the Social Democrats at 13 percent. Germany's next national election is not until 2029, but traditional leaders are under growing pressure. Chancellor Merz said he would stay in his role, adding that changes in Germany's political system are part of a bigger worldwide shift.