The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party achieved the first electoral victory in its history in this weekend’s vote, which saw the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony head to the polls. In Thuringia, the much-criticised hard right party scored a clear win with about 33% of the vote, and in neighbouring Saxony, it won around 30%, coming in a close second. Meanwhile, the months-old leftist party led by the former Die Linke leader Sahra Wagenknecht, BSW, came in third in both states. Voters punished the three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition, which took well und…