Germany’s legacy parties have just “one shot left” to prevent a populist landslide in Germany’s 2029 federal election, a senior member of the Christian Democrats has warned.
Kai Wegner, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) mayor of Berlin, insisted the next government needed to heal the country’s floundering economy quickly if it was not to face a right-wing populist revolt.
“If the next federal government does not succeed in regaining the trust of the voters in four years, then we will have a real problem in 2029,” he said at a January 13 event organised by the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.
“We have exactly one shot left as democratic parties, and we should use it,” said Wegner.
Wegner’s warning comes amid rising polling numbers for the populist-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), with some organisations putting the party’s support at as high as 22 per cent.
All major polling agencies report the AfD is currently the second most popular political party nationally, with trends indicating it is also slowly closing the distance between itself and the first-place Christian Democrats (CDU).
However, the AfD’s popularity is likely not increasing fast enough for it to overtake the centre-right CDU and CSU before the February elections.
The AfD’s rise has also angered many in the German political and media class, with many arguing X-owner Elon Musk’s support for the party constitutes foreign election interference.
Musk has so far ignored those attacks on him and the party, and held an X-space interview with AfD joint leader Alice Weidel on January 9 to discuss current issues troubling Germany and the West.
COMMENT: While Alice Weidel came across as a personable and reasonable politician in her conversation with Elon Musk, she certainly won’t be remembered as a captivating speaker or visionary, writes @Raphfel. https://t.co/0NbRh0UswT
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 13, 2025
