The populist, anti-migrant invasion Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has won a crucial state election and is in the running to win another.

According to latest projections, AfD is dominating in the state of Thuringia with 32.8 of the vote and has 30.8 percent of the vote in Saxony, where they are just one point behind the Christian Democrat Party. Saxony is too close to call as of Sunday evening, but AfD is assured victory in Thuringia.

The AfD is celebrating the victory in Thuringia, which establishes the Party as an undeniable national powerhouse.

“We are the number one people’s party in Thuringia,” said Björn Höcke, the AfD’s regional leader in Thuringia who has been designated an “extremist” by the German government. “We have achieved a historic result.”

Even the haters and the detractors are now admitting that the AfD is a force to be reckoned with.

“For the first time since World War II, we have a far-right party coming in first place in an election here in Germany,” said Sudha David-Wilp, director of the German Marshall Fund’s Berlin office. “So that is quite significant. The mainstream parties have to realize that the [AfD] is here to stay.”

Big League Politics has reported on the state persecution against the AfD to prevent their rise within the government:

“In late April, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BFV), designated the AFD (Alternative for Germany) party youth wing, Junge Alternative (JA), as a “certain right-wing extremist endeavor.” John Cody of Remix News noted that BFV is Germany’s domestic intelligence service. 

This new classification will effectively give the government the power to surveil JA. On top of that, this move is designed to take a swipe at JA’s parent party, AfD, which has been surging at the polls lately. 

In 2019, the BFV previously classified the AFD youth organization as a “suspected case” and the agency is currently allowed to use all intelligence tools to snoop on the JA after its new classification. On top of that,  confidential informants will be used, in addition to telephone tapping and covert observation to track the JA, per the German newspaper Die Welt.

The BFV justified the move on the grounds that JA’s viewpoints go against the German constitution, which is known as the Basic Law. For example, JA’s stances on mass migration have earned it stern criticism and calls for government intervention against it.”

Despite the persecution, the AfD continues to rise. This is great news for the people of Germany whose failed national government has clearly sold them out.