Kremlin says AfD's victory in Germany due in large part to lack of cheap Russian gas
The win delivered the worst result for Chancellor Merz's mainstream conservative party since 1949
The Kremlin said on Monday that the far-right Alternative for Germany's (AfD) first place in a state election in northeastern Germany was in large part due to Berlin no longer buying cheap Russian gas and choosing to buy expensive US energy instead.
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AfD took first place in state elections in northeastern Germany on Sunday, voting projections showed, delivering the worst result for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's mainstream conservative party since 1949.
"It's a disaster," Merz said after exit polls were published, although he signalled he would fight on as chancellor and continue his reform agenda after speculation that a bad result could prompt him to resign.
The AfD was set to win 38.3 per cent in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, ahead of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) at 35.4 per cent, according to projections on ARD public television.
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Both parties were far ahead of Merz’s conservatives, who at the latest count had fallen to 4.9 per cent, below the 5 per cent threshold needed to enter the state parliament and indicating they may be excluded altogether.
Sunday's result has given the AfD its second top-place finish this month at the state level. The party leads in national opinion polls but has been kept from power by the other main parties' refusal to work with it.
The win delivered the worst result for Chancellor Merz's mainstream conservative party since 1949.
"The decline in the competitiveness of the German economy is largely due to Germany's decision to stop buying cheap Russian gas and instead purchase much more expensive gas from other countries, primarily the United States, at times paying several times more on the spot market," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Two people familiar with the plan said last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin's top economic envoy and leaders of Germany's far-right AfD had begun preparations to meet next year to discuss restarting gas supplies to Europe's biggest economy, even though the AfD is not in power nationally.
The AfD and a representative of the envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, declined to comment.
Germany has struggled to recover from the shock caused by the shutdown of the undersea Nord Stream pipelines from Russia, which were rendered inoperative by explosions in September 2022.
"Naturally, Germans, or at least some of them, are looking for an alternative to the current authorities in order to improve their situation. That is a natural process," Peskov said.
In another election on Sunday in the capital Berlin, the far-left Linke party was at 25.3 per cent while the vote share of Merz’s conservatives, who currently govern the state in a coalition with the Social Democrats, tumbled to 19 per cent.
The AfD also gained in strength in the typically liberal city, hitting 16.3 per cent. It is the first time Linke has topped polls in the state, where it wants to nationalise housing from corporate landlords and cap rents.