As the far right gains ground, Germany deserves better from its mainstream politicians | John Kampfner

It's not just the AfD that poses a major threat in this weekend's regional elections - while traditional moderate parties are failing to inspire voters

Britain is emerging, albeit grumpily, from eight years of Conservative mayhem. In France, voters clubbed together yet again to stave off the ever-present threat of Marine Le Pen. In the US, the Democrats have a spring in their step after the anointment of Kamala Harris as their presidential candidate. But this tentative resurgence of sensible politics is, sadly, eluding Germany.

On Sunday, two former regions of East Germany are expected to support in droves two parties of the far right. The three centrist parties running the country nationally - the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) - are struggling to get over the 5% threshold that was designed to keep extremists out of legislatures. Meanwhile, the conservative CDU - Angela Merkel's old party - is struggling to counter the populists.