Germany’s far-right AfD makes gains in local elections, fended off by mainstream parties

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party significantly increased its vote share in Lower Saxony's local elections, tripling its results from five years ago to 15.9%. This placed them third, behind the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with 27.2% and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) with 24.6%. The election, seen as a test of the AfD's recent surge, followed their victory in Saxony-Anhalt and precedes upcoming elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin. Despite mainstream parties maintaining a "firewall" against the AfD, the party made notable gains, including becoming the largest faction in Salzgitter's city council and advancing a mayoral candidate to a runoff. AfD chairman Ansgar Schledde stated, "As of today, the AfD is a local party."