AfD Wins Saxony-Anhalt Election in Historic Far-Right Breakthrough
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has secured a decisive victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, delivering its strongest-ever result in the eastern German state and dealing a major political blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Final results put the AfD at 43.8%, more than doubling its 2021 performance. The CDU collapsed to 17.2%, while the SPD won 9.3%, the Greens 8.9% and Die Linke 8.6%. Turnout reached a notably high 77.8%.
The result is historic because the AfD has become the largest party in a German state election by such a margin, bringing it closer than ever to controlling a state government. However, the party fell short of an outright majority, winning 39 of the 83 seats, three short of the 42 required.
AfD leader in Saxony-Anhalt Ulrich Siegmund claimed that voters had delivered a clear mandate for change. The 35-year-old politician has built his campaign around opposition to immigration, criticism of Germany’s established political parties and stronger ties with Russia.
The immediate challenge for the AfD is therefore political rather than electoral: how to form a government without a majority. Germany’s mainstream parties have maintained a political “firewall” against cooperation with the AfD, making coalition negotiations extremely difficult.
The AfD is nevertheless attempting to exploit the situation. On September 7, the party appealed directly to lawmakers from Merz’s conservatives to support its effort to govern Saxony-Anhalt, putting additional pressure on the CDU to maintain its refusal to cooperate with the far right.
The defeat is particularly damaging for Merz because the CDU had governed Saxony-Anhalt for roughly 24 years. The party’s fall from 37.1% in 2021 to 17.2% represents one of its most severe setbacks in the state.
The election is also being viewed as a referendum on Germany’s national political mood. Economic difficulties, dissatisfaction with the federal government and immigration concerns have helped the AfD expand its support, particularly in the former East German states.
The political implications extend beyond Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD is already Germany’s largest opposition party in the federal parliament, and its latest state-level breakthrough strengthens its argument that it can move from opposition into government. Party co-leader Alice Weidel has described the result as a major springboard toward the next federal election.
The party’s regional branch in Saxony-Anhalt is classified by German domestic intelligence authorities as a right-wing extremist organisation, a designation the AfD rejects as politically motivated. Its policies on immigration, “remigration,” Russia and Ukraine have made it one of the most controversial political forces in Germany.
For Germany’s established parties, the election therefore presents a difficult dilemma. Excluding the AfD from government may preserve the political firewall, but the arithmetic of the new parliament makes forming a stable alternative government complicated.
The Saxony-Anhalt result does not yet mean that the AfD will govern the state. But it represents a profound shift in Germany’s post-war political landscape: for the first time, the far right has emerged with a realistic path toward leading a German state government.
