Where Germany Votes Far Right

Yesterday's election results revealed the rise in support for the far-right in Germany, particularly among voters in the former East Germany. The increase in votes for the extremist AfD however was not entirely unexpected. In fact before yesterday's election the Berliner Morgenpost had already explored the rising popularity of right-wing parties in previous German elections.

In Where Germany Chooses Right the Berliner Morgenpost visualizes support for right-wing parties across Germany in the previous seven German elections. An interactive map allows you to view the support for right-wing political parties in all previous elections going back to the 1990 election. For the purposes of this map the Berliner Morgenpost has split support for right-wing parties into two categories, the extreme right (blue) and the populist right (brown). The extreme right-wing parties are those reported as 'extreme' by Germany's domestic security agency.

Alongside the interactive map the newspaper also fact checks a number of theories about the causes for this rise in support for far-right parties in Germany. One of these theories is that support for far-right parties is strongest where there is less immigration and weakest where there is more immigration. The paper says this was true in the last three elections. I have also heard that this pattern was also apparent in this year's election for the vote share of the AfD.