AfD sees tailwind for state elections after success in European elections

The AfD sees a tailwind for the upcoming state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg following its gains in the European elections. "I hear that we are now the strongest force in the East in this election, there is no greater tailwind," AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla told the German Press Agency in Berlin on Sunday with a view to the elections in the three federal states in September. "If you come second in a European election as the AfD, then that is sensational for us," he added.

Chrupalla rejected the statement by CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who assumed on election night that the AfD had passed its peak. Merz had already wanted to halve the AfD and should wait for the state elections in the east. "I would be very careful with such statements if I were Mr. Merz."