section_path: Background/State elections in September 2024
section_name: State elections in September 2024
paragraph_text: State elections in September 2024
  
  In September 2024, three state elections in eastern Germany (Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg) yielded disastrous results for the parties in the federal traffic light coalition. In Thuringia, the SPD received its worst result in any post-war state election, although it held its vote in Saxony and increased its vote in Brandenburg. The Greens and the FDP performed even worse, losing all their seats in Thuringia and Brandenburg and losing seats in Saxony. In all three states, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and left-populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) gained large numbers of voters. The bad state election results for the traffic light coalition parties were seen by many as reflecting dissatisfaction with their performance at the federal level.