Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on the German far-right winning their first state election since World War II

Germany's far-right has secured its first state parliament win since the second World War.

The anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany won a third of the vote in the eastern state of Thuringia - but may not be able to form a Government.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says this news has sent shockwaves across the EU.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now with us as Gavin Gray UK correspondent I Gevin.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hi there, Heather, So the fire right's.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Got a victory.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
A yes, they have this in Germany and certainly causing
a few shockwaves around the EU. That is because the
old anti immigration party, the Alternative for Deutschland or the
Alternative for Germany, the AfD party is celebrating what it's
calling an historic success. It is the first time that

(00:26):
the far right has won a state election since the
Second World War and the Nazis, so that just really
focuses the mind on how groundbreaking this is. The AfD
won a third of the vote, nine points ahead of
the Conservative CDU in an eastern state of Thuringia, and interestingly,

(00:48):
the three governing parties in the coalition that rules national
German politics, all of those three parties were well down
from those top two votes. So it just goes to
show I think a little in the way in which
German minds are working. Part of this course has been
focused by the killing of three people in a stabbing

(01:09):
by a suspected or The suspect rather is a Syrian
asylum seeker in his twenties said to be working for
Islamic state that was just over a week ago and
I think has really swayed the election. A second state
was also up in Saxony, and the alternative for Deutscheen
only just lost that one very very slightly to the CDU.

(01:33):
So those two parties, neither of them in government doing
extremely well. The government party is doing really, really badly.
The federal elections are just a year away, and as
you can imagine, a lot of disquire about what this
will mean for German politics.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
What do we know about the guy, I mean who
leads the party in this particular provinces described as highly controversial.
What's the controversial about them?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Well, the controversial things is basically that beyond Hecker, who's
said that this was historic victory, spoke of his great pride,
he has in the past said things which the Germans
say are against the law. He denies this, but basically
using phrases that hark back to those to the Nazi era,

(02:19):
which in Germany is not allowed now. He denies doing that,
but nevertheless, some people suspect there are a lot of
people who are very very sympathetic to that way of
thinking in this past.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
I mean, there are photographs of him online going back
to twenty sixteen of pulling what appears to be a
Nazi salute. You know, you have to ef factor in
that it's possible to capture somebody kind of at an
awkward moment and it looks like it. But I mean,
given the party's kind of affinity with some Nazish type ideas,
that is him pulling a Nazi salute, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, I mean it looks to all intents and purposes
like that, as you're saying, though you know, it is
sometimes difficult when it's a snapshop to know that that
is actually what was being done. Incidentally, though the AfD
has tried to clean up its image considerably, talking more
about the economy and migration than anything else. But yeah,
many people do fear that behind this is an underbelly

(03:12):
of extreme far right. However, having said all of that,
even though they secured a third of the votes, on
more than a third of the votes, it's unlikely to
get anywhere near a working majority because all the other
parties are refusing to go into coalition with it. That said,
some laws in Germany require a two thirds majority, and

(03:34):
because the AfD has more than a third of the seats,
that means it could block some pretty important legislation.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Kevin, I bet you're feeling absolutely vindicated and not going
for the Zoasis tickets.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Indeed so so. Originally up for roughly two hundred and
eighty New Zealand dollars, some climb to nearly triple that
price when the sale began, and that's because dynamic pricing
it's called in others supply and demand. When there's demand,
the prices rise, and there was huge demand for these tickets.
Now there's nothing illegal about what has been done, but

(04:10):
it has left many fans furious because as they queued
for hours on the phone, you could see the price
is going up effectively. So you know, the government has
recognized this, in line with previous administrations incidentally, who recognized it.
The problem is what to do and which bit of
legislations change. Obviously it should come under some kind of

(04:31):
consumer rights issue, but you know, supply and demand is
there and that cannot be changed. But to see those
ticket prices go up as you're waiting on line to
get them is deeply infuriating.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Oh yeah, Devin, Hey, thanks very much, man, really appreciate
it talking you in a couple of days Gavin Gray
are UK corresponding.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
For more from Hither Dupless Ellen Drive, Listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio