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🇩🇪 Germany /Elections & Politics

AfD Hessen calls election win a vote of confidence, while SPD sees a turning point

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Outcome reported
  • AfD leaders in Hesse called their party’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt a “grand success” and a major vote of confidence from voters.
  • They said AfD votes now represent demands for concrete policy changes and predicted that western Germany would follow the east.
  • Hesse SPD leader Sören Bartol called the result a turning point and warned that his party would not accept the far right determining Germany’s direction.

The AfD’s election victory in Saxony-Anhalt has triggered sharply contrasting reactions in Hesse, including a demonstration in Frankfurt.

A great success

· Robert Lambrou and Andreas LichertThe Hesse AfD leaders’ description of the party’s election victory in Saxony-Anhalt.

Hesse AfD leaders Robert Lambrou and Andreas Lichert described the result as a "great success" and a "major vote of confidence from citizens." They said AfD support could no longer be dismissed as protest voting, arguing that it reflected demands for concrete political change.

Lambrou and Lichert also cast the result as evidence that eastern Germany was leading the political direction of the country. "The east of Germany is the political avant-garde, and the west will follow," they said.

A major vote of confidence from citizens

· Robert Lambrou and Andreas LichertThe Hesse AfD leaders’ characterization of the result.

Hesse SPD leader Sören Bartol took the opposite view. He said the AfD had become the first far-right party in the history of the Federal Republic to win the most votes, calling the result a turning point that extended beyond a state-level event.

The east of Germany is the political avant-garde, and the west will follow.

· Robert Lambrou and Andreas LichertTheir claim that eastern Germany is setting the country’s political direction.

Bartol said voters in Saxony-Anhalt had democratically produced an outcome that represented a stress test for democracy and that the result had to be acknowledged. But he added: "We will not accept for a moment that extremism determines the course of our country."

We will not accept for a moment that extremism determines the course of our country.

· Sören BartolThe Hesse SPD leader rejected the prospect of far-right influence over Germany’s direction.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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