Traditionally, that was the SPD.
Then the "Linke".
And now, we have the AfD, it seems.
Protest parties have come and gone in Germany.
Mostly because they were really one-issue parties who, once in power, were most interested in filling their own coffers with tax-payer money - the German version of "same-same, but different", if you want.

The AfD does actually have "normal" people at its base - but it remains to be seen for how long.
A lot have left since the swing to the right, not to be taken as a fig-leave for the lunatics in the limelight...

Contradiction

According to the media, all the normal and reasonable and intelligent people left the afd and joined Alfa. Strange we haven't heard of Alfa's success in these elections. So much for name calling

Look at the swing to the GREENS in Baden-Württemberg

Which is a bit baffling to me, honestly.
OK, the guy is probably nice and a real intellectual - but the rest of the party?
WTF...

He is actually one of the most loyal Merkel-supporters, BTW.
He was called a "Merkel-stalker" from people of his own party because he claimed to be "100% aligned" with her on the refugee-question (which is a really schizophrenic thing for the Green Party).
Still got voted to the top...

Mrs Merkel with 27% BW 32% RP 29% SA and losses below 4% and the success of her supporter in Stuttgart was surprisingly successful

I guess that's the glass half full for Wolli.

It's a real mystery to me.

He was elected on a platform of stopping Stuttgart 21 combined with riding on top of the anti Fukushima wave. Both of those concerns have died down. He has dismally failed to stop Stuttgart 21 and I'm surprised his opponents didn't use that against him. The Fukushima hype also died down and anyway nuclear power is a federal matter so on both points he got lucky on things where he either failed to deliver or wasn't even responsible. Normally you would expect the tide of popularity to turn on somebody like that cruelly at the next election.

As the more final results are coming in, it seems afd are even marginally above the earlier counts. Possibly suggesting support is stronger in rural areas where the counting tends to be slower.

It's been interesting listening to the political establishment squirm and shriek last night and this morning.

Cem Oezdemir of the greens said that he was very happy that Kretchman had been confirmed as the only Green governor in Germany and that he felt confident and was looking forwards to him being the only green governor for the next five years.

In the same interview he also said he was shocked that people who were unhappy with government policy should express their anger by voting for the opposition.

He sounded rather incoherent throughout but the journalist didn't pick up on any of this, quite in contrast to the afd spokeswoman who was continuously barraged by Godwin accusations and questions about guns being used on the borders and cut short whenever she tried to talk something else. At one point the journalist even asked her why she so often says the press are a bunch of liars even though to anybody listening at that point this must have been asking the obvious. The interview was finally cut short and we had two minutes of music. This was on deutschlandfunk

We also heard generous use of Godwin words. It seemed the political establishment was shitting itself.

Simplez really. It's been taboo to vote right wing 1945. I reckon most voters who voted AfD were perhaps previously non-voters. AfD have legitimate leadership and who provide a real alternative and are not a bunch of slobbering racists like the Browns. Greens in Baden-Württemberg have always had a big following. The swing there shows how polarising the migration crisis is.

All bad news for the CDU and Merkel. This could even be Merkel's "Thatcher moment". 10 odd years in power and then makes a wildly unpopular decision without asking anyone, even her own party. That spelled the beginning of the end for Thatcher. Could turn out the same way for Merkel. And like Thatcher, it'll most likely be her own party that gets rid of her first.

Of course the political establishment is worried.
It looks like 1932 again.

The German media establishment is also unhappy. Serves them right. Perhaps they'll stop with all this self censorship crap now.

AfD is not the Nazi party. They're not even "extreme right" as the press like to report. And being opposed to the number of migrants entering the country is not the same as wanting to exterminate the Jews.

I think you're probably right there.

I'm not well up on German politics beyond the basics. Is there anyone to watch out for who would be seen as the equivalent of the late Jorg Haider in Austria?

It's not just self censorship, its a total barrage. AfD people have been threatened on the street by thugs in masks and brandishing iron bars. This is why we hardly saw any AfD stands in the typical locations where the other parties set up info booths on shopping streets at election times to distribute leaflets and kiddie balloons. AfD has been excluded from hustings debates. AfD offices and the houses of candidates have been torched and ransacked. All this reminds of the 1930s Germany. AfD posters have been torn down in their thousands and nobody batted an eyelid but when a handful of Green posters got vandalized there was an outcry and lots of finger pointing at the AfD. Politicians and journalists haven't missed a step to talk nonsense and tell lies and shout Nazi. And interestingly, nobody in Germany stopped and said, wait a minute, we are doing exactly what the Nazis did. So all those years of political education have achieved zilch-

Being unable to run an effective campaign on the streets, the AfD has resorted to social media and the other parties have been doing their best to shut that down too. Any pro AfD message was branded as hate speech.

It's a mircale they got as many votes as they did. Under fairer conditions they would have taken far more.

If the CDU wants to take down Merkel, time is running out as next year's election is approaching and there is no obvious successor. Most of the people at the higher levels of the CDU are pro Merkel and so cannot credibly stand up against her or promise to fix her mess. Maybe somebody in the CSU could take over, but traditionally the CSU way has not resonated well with the rest of Germany. I don't think they can pull that one off this time.

I think the CDU is headed for outright electoral disaster. Maybe after that they can wake up and work out a new course.

The dumbing down continues.

Some spark posted this to their facebook page.

Whoever comes second in an election must be a Nazi?

This shows the level of brainless discussion that is going on in Germany right now.

The editor of the Bild, Kai Diekmann, posted that on Twitter last night. Someone needs to remind him that anti-migrant is not the same as anti-foreigner.

https://twitter.com/KaiDiekmann/stat...70595472953344

Wow, I was bit surprised ...

No change to Merkel's migrant policy despite election setbacks
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35802844

Things going well for Merkel. AfD beat the CDU into second place with 21% of the vote in Merkel's home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Somewhat embarrassing, but don't worry wir schaffen das!

Leaves things nicely poised for next year's general elections.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37271971