The German far-right has won its first election since the Second World War. 

The AfD - which stands for Alternative for Germany - has come first in the Thuringia state election with around 33% of the vote and second in neighbouring Saxony with around 31%.

On Newstalk Breakfast, Germany-based journalist Rob Hyde said there is widespread dissatisfaction with the establishment parties. 

“The traditional parties of the centre ground have fallen away in these two Federal States because the voters there have moved more to extremist parties,” he said. 

“On the one hand, the AfD - but that’s not the only play in the game.

“You’ve also got a lady called Sahra Wagenknecht and she’s from the radical left and she’s done very well as well. 

“So, in Thuringia, she managed to get 15.8% of the vote and in Saxony 11.8%. 

“So, I think what you’ve got here is massive dissatisfaction amongst voters with the coalition Government headed by Chancellor Olaf Sholz.” 

Olaf Scholz at a press conference. Photo Credit: Fabio Cimaglia/Sintesi/Alamy Live News

Until the invasion of Ukraine, Germany’s key industries were heavily reliant on Russian fossil fuels. 

The sanctions imposed on Russia have massively increased their cost margins and growth in the economy has suffered.

Amid widespread voter dissatisfaction, the far-left and the far-right have come to the same conclusion on certain “key policy areas”. 

“Uncontrolled mass immigration - they want to clamp down on that massively,” Mr Hyde said. 

“They also both want to restore trade relations with Russia, they are also both fiercely anti-EU. 

“They’re also pro-German workers’ rights - so there’s a kind of unity even though they both seem to be at different ends of the political spectrum.” 

Despite this, he predicts the AfD will find it “very difficult” to form a working coalition as the traditional parties want nothing to do with them.

In all likelihood, Mr Hyde believes Sahra Wagenknecht’s radical left will emerge as the kingmaker.

Main image: Left-wing demonstrators protest against the AfD Thuringia summer party. Picture by: Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP.