Far-right AfD surges to second in two German state elections

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has scored significant gains in state elections on Sunday in both Bavaria and Hesse, a clear sign of the growing strength of the far right across the country.
Projected results put the AfD in second place in Bavaria, Germany's largest state and among its wealthiest, as well as in Hesse, home of the European financial hub Frankfurt.
Such gains in relatively prosperous parts of western Germany will give the AfD renewed momentum. The party has long drawn outsized support from the former communist East Germany, but the latest results confirm that the AfD's rising strength is a nationwide phenomenon.
All other parties have vowed to keep the AfD out of government in either state, maintaining a nationwide "firewall" against the far-right party, widely viewed as beyond the mainstream.
But AfD's gains will likely be among the most significant aspects of Sunday's election results. The AfD has been polling at over 20% nationwide, after dropping to 10.3% in the last national election in 2021.
"It's an enormous vote of confidence," the AfD's top candidate in Hesse, Robert Lambrou, said on Sunday evening.
The AfD's trademark issue is a hard-line anti-immigration stance, and the party may have been boosted by increased concern among many German voters over rising numbers of migrants seeking asylum in the country.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel described the party's successes on Sunday as a confirmation of their political stances as well as a harsh rebuke to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left coalition.
The results give the AfD increased momentum heading into three key state elections next year in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, all eastern states in which recent opinion polls put the AfD at over 30%, well ahead of every other party.