Campaigning ramps up ahead of crucial German state election

Campaigning is in full swing across Brandenburg. Some 2.5 million voters are eligible to cast a ballot in the election that could spell an end to Social Democrats' dominance in the region in recent times. The SPD has been in charge in this state since reunification in 1990. This time around, Alternative for Germany, AfD, looks set to take the most votes, according to the latest polling.

In Senftenberg, a town of about 25,000, the AfD candidate Fabian Jank told CGTN his party is offering change to voters disillusioned with the status quo.

"Especially on the issue of migration and immigration, the AfD is the force that represents the very clear position that with this mass immigration since 2015, we have developed our country for the worse and that this must be reversed," he said. "And that is why our position must be very clear: we close the borders again and turn things around from 2015. This includes deportations, yes, deportations and, above all, closing the border."

AfD came with real controversy after winning the most votes in earlier elections in Thuringia and coming in a close second to the Conservatives in Saxony. Thuringia party leader Bjorn Hoecke has been a big part of the campaigning here. Earlier this year, he received a fine, and courts ruled he could be referred to as a fascist following his use of Nazi-era slogans.

Speaking to crowds gathered in the city of Cottbus, Dietmar Woidke, the incumbent Social Democrats leader of the state, accused Hoecker and the AfD of being revisionist on Germany's Nazi past and claimed they were a threat to German democracy.‌

"They want to destroy this foundation, and they want to replace it with an ideology-driven right-wing extremist structure that has only ever led to one thing: suffering and misery for the population. And that is why they must never again be allowed to gain even one iota, one millimetre of power in our country," he told crowds. 

While AfD is on track to win the most votes, it looks unlikely that they will be able to form a coalition to rule Brandenburg.

These are local elections, but they are being closely watched in Berlin ahead of the federal vote next year. Another crushing defeat for the SPD and its coalition partners, the Greens and Free Democrats, could have aftershocks that go right to the heart of German politics and increase calls for Scholz to follow US President Joe Biden's lead and step aside as his party's candidate.

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