Far-right AfD wins German state election: ‘This is democracy’

Ulrich Siegmund, top candidate in the Saxony-Anhalt state election for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) smiles near a board showing the polling results after exit poll results were announced in Magdeburg, eastern Germany on Sunday. The party won key regional elections by a landslide with at least 44 percent of the vote. Photo by Tobias Schwarz / AFP via Getty Images)

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The far-right Alternative for Germany scored its best-ever result in a state election on Sunday amid growing public discontent with the political establishment, delivering a powerful blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

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The AfD secured 44.5 per cent of the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, well ahead of the long-governing Christian Democratic Union with 18.5 per cent, according to early projections broadcast by ARD. That would put the AfD just short of an outright majority. The anti-capitalist Left party had 9.4 per cent, while the Social Democrats and Greens won 8.2 per cent and 8.9 per cent respectively.

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Merz, who kept well away from voters on the campaign trail, will have to grapple with the fallout after his CDU performed worse than polling predicted amid sluggish economic growth and rising energy prices. The AfD has capitalized on the frustration, tapping into public grievances with its call to halt migration, end efforts to tackle climate change and restore relations with Russia.

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“We achieved exactly what we set out to achieve,” the AfD’s lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, who has said his goal was to secure enough seats to form a government without relying on coalition partners. A failure to win an outright majority would mean the remaining parties — which have all ruled out working with the AfD — would be left to cobble together a fragmented alliance.

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AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said the results give the party a “clear mandate to govern” — and that it would reach out to potential partners, including from lawmakers in the CDU, to assemble a majority. CDU state premier Sven Schulze said that state voters “sent a signal,” though the party has repeatedly said it won’t work with the AfD.

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“Some say this is a dark day for Saxony-Anhalt,” Schulze told party members in the state capital, Magdeburg. “I say that this is democracy.”

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Coalition building could become even more complicated if BSW, a breakaway party founded by former Left party leader Sahra Wagenknecht, enters parliament. The exit poll had it with five per cent backing.

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Saxony-Anhalt, which has the lowest GDP per capita of Germany’s 16 states, has a population of around 2 million. Since Germany reunified, the region has seen its population decline more sharply than any other state, with the number of inhabitants having fallen by more than a quarter between 1990 and 2024.

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During a rush of campaigning ahead of the vote, Siegmund drew thousands to festival-like events, where supporters clamoured for autographs and selfies. It was a clear demonstration of the party’s growing support — and a contrast with Merz, who was kept away from voters.

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Siegmund has said that if he fails to gain the necessary majority to lead the state as premier, he would wait out the political chaos that he said would ensue if the CDU formed a government, which he predicted would last “a few months.” The AfD will simply gain more in the next election, he told Bloomberg: “We can only win.”