The name of Germany’s beleaguered chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was not on the ballot on Sunday, as his home state of Brandenburg went to the polls. But it might as well have been. Approval ratings for the coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and liberals that he leads have plunged to record lows. Earlier this month, a far-right party shockingly won a regional election for the first time since the second world war. Had Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) repeated that feat in Brandenburg – an eastern state that Mr Scholz’s Social Democratic party (SPD) has controlled since reunification – the knives would have been out for a leader whose party fears a rout in federal elections next year.
In the event, disaster was averted. By a narrow margin, the AfD finished second, not first, as the SPD benefited from tactical voting to keep it at bay. But the good news for the chancellor ends there. Even allowing for the particular political dynamics of eastern Germany, a dismal September for the coalition government risks holing it below the waterline. In elections in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, the Greens struggled even to reach the 5% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation. The liberal Free Democratic party (FDP) was all but extinguished from the political map. In Brandenburg, the long-serving SPD state premier, Dietmar Woidke, retained office only after effectively disassociating himself from the national party and Mr Scholz.
