Can local German elections have an impact on the country's geopolitical situation?
The war in Ukraine has dominated the political discussion ahead of three east German state elections in September. Both far-left and far-right parties are demanding negotiations with Russia and the halting of weapons deliveries to Ukraine. Can they affect Germany's foreign policies?
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00:00Foreign politics, including the war in Ukraine, have been dominating the political discussion
00:05ahead of three East German state elections in September.
00:08Both far-left and far-right parties are demanding negotiations with Russia and the halting of
00:14weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
00:16Political scientist Dr. Carsten Koschmieder says not directly.
00:20The three federal states have no direct influence on the foreign policy or the federal government.
00:25The three states are still a small minority in the federal council, for example, but the
00:34problem is that the other parties see what is happening.
00:38They see that BSW and AfD get a lot of votes, in East Germany the topic of war is very important,
00:45the East Germans are much more skeptical about the sanctions against Russia, about the help
00:50of Ukraine.
00:51And what is happening now is that, for example, the Saxon prime minister, who belongs to the
00:56CDU and who is a influential CDU politician in the CDU's federal council, has been saying
01:01for weeks, for months, we have to get along with Russia, we have to buy Russian gas again,
01:06we have to drop Ukraine, we are not allowed to give Ukraine anything, we should throw out
01:11Ukrainian refugees, and so on.
01:13If we now see, for example, a very strong election result for the AfD in the three federal
01:22states, then the democratic parties will say, okay, what is the reason and what do we have
01:29to change?
01:30And then some will certainly come up with, oh, the AfD is against the EU and against the
01:36EU in the current state, so we have to do something against the EU.
01:43Neither the far-right party Alternative for Germany nor the far-left party Saar-Wagenknecht
01:53Alliance can govern alone, as both parties are expected to draw well below the required
01:5950% of votes needed to form an absolute majority government.
02:04However, if both parties together manage to win more than 50%, then it would be impossible
02:11to form a government without them, at which point either party could start making strong
02:16demands at the negotiation table, demands that are likely to include the halting of
02:23weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
02:26Liv Stroud in Berlin for Euronews.