first up on the show in Germany a far-right party has won a state election and what could potentially Mark the beginning of a major shift in the political landscape in the country the German Chancellor Olive schz has expressed concern after the regional elections urging mainstream parties to exclude right-wing extremists he says the afd or the alternative for Germany became the first far-right party to win a state election in Germany since World War II the party emerged as the biggest winner in the Eastern State of dinga with 33% of the vote share it finished ahead of the main opposition party the CDU or the Christian Democratic Union which secured 24% of the vote though many parties have refused to collaborate with the afd to form a majority the far right party could end up with enough seats to make decisions on appointment of Judges or top security officials now the German Chancellor ol of schles described the results as bitter schles said the results are worrying and the country must not get used to this he also added that the afd is damaging the country and is weakening the economy uh he also urged mainstream political parties to form governments without right-wing extremists Schultz Center left uh social Democrats or the SPD was the only party in his coalition to clear the 5% threshold while Junior Coalition Partners the greens and the free Democrats crashed out of the toring assembly interestingly the newcomer hardle party the BS s w did fairly better than Sha's Coalition coming at third place with national elections just a year away the results could provoke in fighting within Char's Coalition regime and also pressurized the government to harden its position on immigration and support over Ukraine as a result as the results became clear thousands gathered to protest against the far rights Landmark Victory take a look [Applause] [Music] unfortunately I'm not surprised but I'm still totally shocked because I was hoping that my fellow countrymen wouldn't vote for the fascists that's all I can really say for now and nothing will change there will be a standstill at most migration migration for me because it's too much too many too much they get money easily and meanwhile for us pensioners the pensions and the energy prices have to increase those are the pressing issues for [Music] us and for more on this we're now being joined by Alex ker who joins us from Brussels for the very latest on what's happening in Germany and well Alex ker good to see you um what is this result in a regional state election indicate for a larger Trend uh ahead of the national elections next year the fact that you know the German Chancellor's party only made the 5% threshold yeah well it's un indication but it is not uh really a massive indication of where the country is so to give you a sense of the size of thuringia that's about 2% of the national vote and you add 5% for Saxony so you're looking at in these two elections 7% of the national electorate that will turn out in those Federal elections that you just mentioned so it it is at least in demographic terms is not a big indication of where the country stands what it does show though is that there is uh uh there is no more stigma for certain voters uh to vote for the afd to vote for far-right parties which of course are so historically sensitive in uh Germany it shows that the stigma of voting for The afd is gone it also shows that all the warnings uh by mainstream politicians including the German Chancellor Olaf Schultz against uh these far-right parties have not landed with the voters of thuringia or Saxony or the fact that the internal Intelligence Agency of Germany has warned about extremism within the afd's rank so certainly that stigma uh that fear of voting for The afd seems to have dwindled in these regions but as I said it is still a small proportion of uh uh the German voting population the other thing to say though is that because Germany is all about coalitions all about uh parties working together to form a government it may further divide an already very fractured political scho landscape in Germany so Alex clearly it's not a larger Trend but of course something that ol of sches and his party will be looking at closely thanks very much indeed for joining us this evening for all the latest news download the Von app And subscribe to our YouTube channel