The Alternative for Germany (AfD) have won the local elections in Saxony-Anhalt while the local church has consistently warned against the burgeoning far-right party.
Although the party fell short of an outright majority in the eastern state of Germany, with nearly 44% of the vote, the victory has sent shockwaves throughout Europe and is widely considered a historic event.
Complex negotiations now beckon to determine who will govern the state. No far-right party has governed a German state since World War II, which gives powers over local education, policing and culture.
Ulrich Siegmund, the leader of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, has said that if the party is able to form a government then it will ban rainbow flags in schools, begin a remigration and deportation campaign, and halt wind farm construction.
He has also pledged to bring back singing the national anthem and raising the flag in state schools.
Speaking Sunday on the day the elections took place, Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, the diocese in Saxony-Anhalt, warned that “apocalyptic and racist ideas have taken root in the minds of so many.”
Although Feige didn’t explicitly name AfD, he called for action to be taken against extremist ideas. “Currently, this probably means in a special way resisting the nationalist and xenophobic spirit,” he said.
In the build-up to the elections, the local church launched the “Vote Consciously” initiative which called on voters to avoid populist rhetoric and extremism.
