Paul Friedrich, 16, could not wait to cast his first ballot and had no doubt which German party had earned his support in the watershed European elections. “Correct, I voted AfD,” he said proudly in the bustle of the commuter railway station in Brandenburg an der Havel, an hour from central Berlin. The far-right Alternative für Deutschland made particularly stunning gains on Sunday among young voters.
For the first time in a national poll, 16- and 17-year-olds could cast their ballots – a reform that had been strongly backed by left-leaning parties. After overwhelmingly supporting the Greens five years ago, Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote – an 11-point rise – helping place the party second behind the opposition CDU-CSU conservatives and well ahead of the Social Democrats of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Whoops! That backfired spectacularly, didn't it?
...his concerns echo those of many teenagers and twentysomethings in town: fears of war spreading in Europe, inflation, economic decline, “unchecked” immigration and, above all, violent crime, which they say is rampant when they use public transport or hang out in public spaces at night.
A familiar refrain, the sort of urban petty crime that impacts the youth more so than the adult voters is driving the 'lurch to the right' as this is being described.
“A lot of things are moving in the wrong direction with the current government,” Friedrich said, referring to Scholz’s increasingly loveless centre-left-led alliance. “I want to change things with my vote – I want the AfD to shape that.”
And the left have helpfully tied the noose around their own neck and shown you how to kick the chair they are standing on! Oh, if only there was a German word to describe how I felt reading this article...
Brushing aside party scandals and attempts to whitewash the Nazi past, Konstantin and his friend Leonard, 18, also voted AfD. “When I go out I get insulted and even spat on by, let’s just say, non-Germans – those aren’t German values,” Leonard said. “If refugees come here and work and behave and leave me alone that’s fine, but if not, they should go home.”
It seems the education system in Germany hasn't been totally conquered by the progressives. Unlike ours.
What do these 'new Germans' think about this?
Noura Abu Agwa, a 24-year-old refugee from Damascus, said she and her mother also felt increasingly unsafe in town, but blamed the strong presence of the far right. “When I arrived I was wearing the hijab but I got harassed so I took it off,” she said. “I feel bad for my mom because she’s still wearing it, and once she was walking in the street and a man stopped her to shout at her. She was so confused because she only speaks Arabic.”
QED.
