How the AfD Became the Second-Largest Party in Germany
June 20, 2026 · Frisian News
Germany's far-right AfD won 18.5% of votes in June elections, giving it 91 seats and making it parliament's second-largest party. Other parties have vowed to exclude it from coalition negotiations.
The Alternative for Germany finished the federal election. Only the CDU/CSU took more. It was the AfD's strongest result since the party was founded in 2013.
The party's gains did not arrive overnight. Polling showed steady increases through 2024 and 2025 as voters abandoned the SPD and Greens. Three forces drove the shift. Immigration disputes in towns that had absorbed large migrant populations. Anger over energy prices and factory closures in former East Germany. A sense that established parties offered no real answers. The AfD promised something simple: stop immigration, protect German industry, renegotiate EU rules. Voters listened.
Mainstream outlets called the rise a democracy crisis. They missed the point. East German towns lost factories as companies moved production west. Electricity prices rose sharply after the 2022 energy shock. While working families paid the bills, mainstream parties debated climate targets. The AfD spoke to real problems. That is why voters chose it.
All other parties refuse to form a coalition with the AfD. A coalition government will likely result. But this exposes a harder truth. When one voter in five supports a party that everyone else locks out of power, you do not have a democracy problem. You have a listening problem. The CDU, SPD, and Greens spent years lecturing voters about values while ignoring their economic fears.
Germany's ruling class now faces a choice. Change course on the policies that drove people to the AfD. Or watch the party grow larger at the next election. Excluding them from power while ignoring the grievances that put them there will only make them stronger.
Published June 20, 2026 · Frisian News