After months of polling comfortably in second place nationwide, Sunday’s triumph for the far-right is widely considered yet another harbinger for further successes in the coming year. In June, the AfD won its first district council election, as well as the mayor’s race in a small municipality a month later. State elections in Hesse and Bavaria in October this year also saw the party enjoy gains in both states, finishing second and third, respectively.
Lochner is a firm supporter of the AfD’s anti-migrant policy, which became a key pillar in its platform after the arrival of about a million migrants to Germany in 2015. Lochner was previously a member of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU).
He was asked Sunday by local broadcaster MDR about previous comments referring to a “population replacement” — a popular conspiracy theory among the far-right about migrants being used to replace white populations.
“If we have a proportion of foreigners in certain parts of the city of a demonstrable 38 percent, in elementary schools and day-care centers, then for me, that’s already a replacement of the homegrown population,” Lochner added.
Growing support for the AfD’s anti-migrant rhetoric comes at a time when “foreigners, integration and refugees” are considered the “most important problem” for the country among voters.
The victory for the AfD in Pirna comes less than two weeks after the regional intelligence service in Saxony classified the party as “confirmed right-wing extremist” — the third of Germany’s 16 states to do so after Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. A legal review lasting several years has shown “undoubtedly” that the AfD regional association is pursuing “anti-constitutional goals,” said Dirk-Martin Christian, head of Saxony’s intelligence service in Dresden. “There are no longer any doubts about the right-wing extremist orientation of the AfD in Saxony.”
While the next national elections aren’t scheduled until 2025, Germany’s governing coalition parties, the Social Democrats, the Greens and the business-friendly Free Democrats, as well as the largest opposition group, the center right CDU/CSU, will be watching anxiously in September as voters head to the polls in three AfD strongholds — Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. The far-right is currently polling in first position, with over 30 percent in all three eastern states.