The nationalist AfD’s landslide victory in a German state on Sunday could portend a far-right surge across Europe, analysts argued.
In France, Italy, and Spain, all of which will hold elections in the next 16 months, rightist candidates are benefiting from a cost-of-living crisis and the inability of incumbent parties to address affordability concerns: “Developed Europe is going through a version of sophisticated state failure,” a Eurasia Group analyst told The New York Times.
The AfD’s win shocked politicians in France, where far-right leader Marine Le Pen is leading the polls in next year’s presidential race. The global right’s “most immediate hope for changing Europe still lies in France, not Germany,” the Financial Times’ chief foreign affairs columnist wrote.