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Germany and France Tip Ever Rightward in Weekend Regional Elections – HotAir

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March 23, 2026
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Germany and France Tip Ever Rightward in Weekend Regional Elections – HotAir

It was a regional election palooza in France and Germany this weekend. In France, it was Round Two of the march toward the national presidential elections, with a lame-duck Emmanuel Macron’s presidency up for grabs. In Germany, it’s waffling and wounded German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s desperate bid to avoid losing more Christian Democrat (CDU) seats in regional parliaments to either Alice Weidel’s populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party or, even more inexplicably, a resurgent Green party.





In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) went into the second round of elections hoping to win major cities’ mayoral races, but, much as two years ago, when the deal-making behind the scenes foiled Le Pen’s near-triumph over Macron, the same thing happened. Agreements were reached, and opposing candidates dropped out to bolster the chances of anyone but the RN candidate winning, all in an effort to deny the right-wing RN the seats they so prized.

It worked four times out of five in the major races. But the evening was still marked by huge gains across the board for Le Pen’s party, much to the chagrin of the plotters. Additionally, the only Socialists who were successful were those who had avoided the radical Left as they campaigned.

Socialists and allies held on to power France’s big four cities – Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille – on a local election night that offered hopes for mainstream parties in next year’s presidential elections.

The new aspirants of the far-left and far-right also made gains – notably in Nice for an ally of Marine Le Pen and Roubaix in the north for the France Unbowed (LFI) party.

But the big lesson of the evening was the failure of alliances between mainstream left and LFI, with voters turning to the centre and right in long-time Socialist Party (PS) strongholds like Clermont-Ferrand and Brest.

On the contrary, in cities like Paris, Marseille and Lille – where incumbent Socialists steered clear of the far-left because of accusations of sectarian anti-Semitism in its ranks – left-wing administrations were comfortably returned.





Nice turned out to celebrate dumping their Socialist.

And the rightward shift in voter sentiment across the country was evident in the returns when they were mapped.

RN was hoping for victories in 40 smaller cities and towns, and they wound up with 70.

Le Pen will learn in July whether her appeal against her ban from running in the election is overturned or she must sit this one out.





As reviled as she and her party are by the establishment, I wouldn’t want to place a bet on it being overturned. If it’s not, her deputy will stand in her place

…The ruling should decide whether Le Pen gets another chance to seek the highest office. If the court sides with prosecutors and maintains a lengthy election ban, the surging National Rally is expected to field 30-year-old Jordan Bardella as its presidential candidate.

In Germany, Merz was already reeling from regional elections two weeks ago in a longtime CDU stronghold, where he had personally invested time and effort only to see a resurgent Green party triumph and the AfD come roaring out of nowhere, buoyed by disenchanted autoworkers’ support.

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the CDU had a very good showing, vanquishing the long-dominant area Socialist Democrats (SPD), but it wasn’t all wine and roses. That bad news was that Weidel’s AfD tripled its former numbers, picking up a tremendous percentage gain to come in third.





These are truly dramatic times for the SPD, Germany’s oldest political party. Yesterday it lost the state election of Rhineland-Palatine, a state it governed for 35 years. The party fell by almost 10pp to 25.9%. The winner is the CDU at 31%. The AfD more than doubled its share of the vote to 19.5%. This is becoming a pattern in German politics.

The CDU’s firewall against the AfD means that it has only a single coalition option – another so-called grand coalition with the SPD as a junior partner. This is the same constellation as in federal level last year. It is becoming a problem for the CDU, but right now, the SPD’s problem is the more urgent one. The party’s leadership duo, Lars Klingbeil, finance minister, and Bärbel Bas, labour minister, are facing calls to resign.

Politico was a little chirpier about it, but there no’s denying underlying strength of AfD and it has to be spooking the establishment. This is going to force some recalculating on the coalition side of Merz’s party, and, again, only serve to further weaken CDU’s attempts to use a coalition to keep AfD isolated from governing. 

Merz’s conservatives win key state vote despite far-right surge





When the only ones left to join a coalition are the Greens that the CDU has been trying to distance itself from in their efforts to appeal to the German voters that AfD has been steadily peeling away from them, Merz has his hands full and a shaky government.

For her part, Weidel is feeling her electoral oats and is looking to amass such numbers that no one will be able to gainsay her party a place in the government at long last.

…The election in Rhineland-Palatinate was the second of five state races to be held this year in what Germans are calling a Superwahljahr — or “super election year” — that is seen as a key test of the national mood as the AfD seeks to overtake Merz’s conservatives in national polls. The AfD is on track to secure big victories in two eastern states in votes set for September, according to polls.

“We have achieved record results,” Alice Weidel, one of the AfD’s national leaders, said on Sunday. “Voters appreciate the work we’ve done as opposition party, and we will continue on this path so that we can join the government in the next election.”

She also has elections coming up this fall in very AfD-friendly territory, which could completely shift the dynamic for the first time. As in, polls are forecasting the possibility of an absolute AfD majority in one of the contests.

…The AfD has increasingly been hitting Merz on that theme, with some success. In two states in the former East Germany where elections are set for September, the AfD is so far ahead in polls that its leaders hope to secure an absolute majority in at least one of the contests, a result that would bring the party to real governing power for the first time since its founding in 2013.

“While you go on and on about world politics, German industry is collapsing,” Weidel, the AfD leader, told Merz in the Bundestag earlier this week. “The exodus is in full swing.”





A delight and a disaster.

And a determined shift to the right on the part of European voters… 

🇩🇪 Germany: Alice Weidel’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) doubled its results in state elections, securing its best finish ever and driven by younger voters.

🇸🇮 Slovenia: Former Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his populist Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) is tied with incumbent Robert Golob and his center-left party.

…no matter what deals are struck in back rooms by the fellows who still remain.

At this rate, they may not last much longer, no matter what they do.


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