Just 1 voter backed AfD in Germany’s smallest town
ARNIS, Germany (AP) — In the smallest town in Germany, just one out of 228 eligible voters cast their ballot for Alternative for Germany even as the far-right, anti-immigrant party saw historic gains elsewhere in the country during Sunday’s national election.
While AfD surged to become Germany’s second-largest political force in the election, behind Germany’s mainstream conservatives, the party’s strength varies around the country.
In Arnis, located in the northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein, just 154 of the town’s 228 eligible voters went to the polls Sunday. Nearly 42% voted for the Greens, according to official election results.
With fewer than 300 inhabitants living along a picturesque inlet of the Baltic Sea, the town is Germany’s smallest both by population and size, at 0.45 square kilometers (0.17 square miles). It’s a tourism hub with a fishing trade, marinas and shipyards.
The mayor, Jens Matthiesen, said even a single vote for AfD was a surprise.
“I don’t know how that happened,” Matthiesen, told daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “We are quite happy that only one person voted for this party. We can live with that.”
AfD has jumped in popularity thanks to a backlash against the large numbers of migrants and refugees Germany has absorbed over the past decade. A stagnant economy has also contributed to the deep unpopularity of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s infighting-prone government.
The party emerged Sunday as the strongest force across the country’s formerly communist and less prosperous east, cementing its primacy in a region that has long been its stronghold, and where it won its first state election last year.
While AfD also has significant support in other areas, the party has struggled to gain momentum in places including Schleswig-Holstein. There, the party took just 16.3% of the vote — below the party’s nationwide score of 20.8%.
The state, which has had both center-right and center-left governments previously, is currently one of only two in Germany where AfD has no lawmakers in the regional legislature after it failed to win any seats in a 2022 regional election.
In Arnis, founded in 1667 by about 60 families seeking to avoid a vow of fealty to a local lord, Matthiesen said voters are unlikely to puzzle out the identity of their AfD neighbor.
“You can’t find out. The one AfD voter won’t come out either,” Matthiesen told the newspaper. __ Dazio reported from Berlin.