Engaging the disengaged (at your own risk)

The regional elections in two eastern German states yesterday show what high voter dissatisfaction combined with high voter turnout can mean for a ruling coalition. In Thuringia, right-wing AfD won with a preliminary 32.8%, followed by CDU at 23.6% and left-wing BSW at 15.8%, leaving the parties of the national coalition with just 10.4%. In next-door Saxony, it was 31.9% for CDU, 30.6% for AfD, 11.8% for BSW and 13.4% for the coalition parties. Voter turnout in Thuringia was 73.6%, compared to 64.9% in 2019. In Saxony, it was a national all-time regional-election high of 74.4%. At a Globsec panel in Prague on Fri. entitled, "Engaging the Disengaged: Overcoming Polarization," Pres. Petr Pavel said that at the core of the polarization of society is disengagement, a "process where citizens overwhelmed by hostile rhetoric and biased information withdraw from democratic participation, such as voting or participating in public discussions, leading to apathy and distrust." Yesterday's eastern German elections show, however, that if a government's policies create wide voter dissatisfaction, engaging the disengaged can get it booted out of office.