German far-right party secures first major win

Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser cautioned that a surge in support for the far-right could adversely affect the nation's economy after populist party Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won a district election.

In a historic first in Germany, the anti-immigration AfD party on Sunday secured control of the local government in Sonneberg district, located in the central state of Thuringia, which is situated in the region of the former East Germany.

Voters in Sonneberg elected AfD candidate Robert Sesselmann, unseating incumbent district administrator Jurgen Kopper of the center-right Christian Democratic Union.

Although Sonneberg, with a population of around 57,000, is one of Germany's smallest districts, the AfD's triumph there marks a significant milestone for the party, whose Thuringia branch has been designated as a far-right extremist group by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, reported the Deutsche Welle news service.

Faeser, a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats, told the Funke Mediengruppe news organization that the AfD fails to provide any solutions to the challenges confronting Germany, including a demand for labor that the German government aims to address by encouraging more people from outside of the European Union to move to the country.

"On the contrary: The AfD is fueling a climate that is damaging Germany's position," she said.

Faeser asserted that such a climate could deter skilled foreign workers, who "our economy urgently needs".This, in turn, would result in limited opportunities in German regions that rely on economic stimulus and qualified labor, she said.

Lawmakers should resist pandering to or adopting the AfD's political stances and its "inhuman and antidemocratic language", said Faeser.

The minister contended that proponents of democracy should strive to identify the most effective solutions to the nation's issues, while avoiding the trap of "falling into the hateful language of the populists".

AfD's leader in Thuringia, Bjorn Hocke, stated the victory demonstrates the party's recent upward trajectory.

"And then we'll prepare for the state elections in the east, where we can really create a political earthquake," he said in reference to the state parliamentary elections that took place in the eastern states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg.

Georg Maier, Thuringia's interior minister and a member of the Social Democrats, characterized the result as "an alarm signal for all democratic forces" and urged for joint efforts to protect democracy and for party-political interests to be set aside.

Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, stated that while not all AfD voters may possess extreme right-wing beliefs, the party itself does.

"This is a watershed that this country's democratic political forces cannot simply accept," he told the RND media network.

The International Auschwitz Committee said it was "a sad day for the Sonneberg district, for Germany, and for democracy".

"A majority of voters have obviously said goodbye to democracy and deliberately opted for an extreme right-wing party of destruction dominated by a Nazi," said its executive vice-president Christoph Heubner.