What's Going On?

With the far-right AfD party gaining seats in state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, a look at German politics for newcomers

The vote totals by percent from the Thuringia state parliament election on Sept. 1. Image credit: Tagesschau.

I had a post about recycling in Germany all queued up, but my news feed has been overwhelmed this morning about the results of the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony.

So I’m saving the literal trash talk for next week, to take a look at a metaphorical dumpster fire—politics.

These two state elections have been closely watched all across Germany because the far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), was leading in the polls.

If you are not a follower of German or European politics, you can check out this earlier post for more about the AfD, and this other post about its surge in popularity in the recent elections for the EU Parliament.

As predicted, the AfD did get the most votes in Thuringia - at 32.8 percent of the total - almost nine points ahead of the conservative…