German far-right AfD landslide winner in eastern state vote

Exit polls show anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party winning crucial election in Saxony-Anhalt

Author of the article:

Published Sep 06, 2026  •  3 minute read

Ulrich Siegmund, centre, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)'s main candidate in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, poses for photos with supporters at an election campaign event in Haldensleben, eastern Germany, on Sept. 1, 2026. Photo by Ronny HARTMANN /AFP via Getty Images

MAGDEBURG, Germany —  Germany’s far-right AfD won a landslide victory in a key regional election Sunday in the ex-communist east, according to exit polls, but it remains unclear whether it can win an absolute majority to govern.

Article content

“We have made history today,” said a jubilant Ulrich Siegmund, the 35-year-old lead candidate of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party in Saxony-Anhalt state, as the vote count continued.

Article content

Article content

The AfD won at least 44 percent, more than doubling its support, and far ahead of the 18.5 percent for the centre-right CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to projections by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.

The CDU’s state premier Sven Schulze called the outcome “a severe blow” but — depending on the final count and the fate of smaller parties — may still try to cobble together a multi-party coalition to cling to power.

All major parties have agreed on a “firewall” of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose state branch is categorised as “right-wing extremist” by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.

The AfD’s national co-leader Alice Weidel — who has long condemned the “firewall” concept as undemocratic — praised her party’s result as “sensational” and said that “we have received a very clear mandate to govern here”.

Article content

Article content

“We will see what the rest of the evening brings and how things develop,” she added as more ballots were being counted in the small state of 2.1 million people following a record voter turnout of at least 75 percent.

Head of Central Council of Jews ‘appalled’ by election result

In a white-knuckle evening, the CDU’s only hope would be to potentially forge an unwieldy coalition with a razor-thin margin together with the centre-left SPD and the Greens, and with the support of the far-left Die Linke party.

A wild card is whether the small BSW party — economically leftist but veers hard right on immigration — will cross the five-percent hurdle for re-entry into parliament, and whether it would then lend its support to the AfD.

A first-ever AfD state government would be a shock for many in Germany, which has been at pains to atone for its dark history of World War II and the Holocaust and so far kept extremist parties at bay.

“I am personally appalled by this election result,” said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews.

Article content

The spectre of a far-right state government drew thousands of the AfD’s opponents to a rally on Saturday in the regional capital Magdeburg, with banners saying “life is better without Nazis”.

“I’m very worried,” demonstrator Laura Saalfeld told AFP. “Whatever the results, the atmosphere will change. Far-right sympathisers will show themselves more openly on the streets.”

Siegmund pushes radical agenda

Siegmund has ambitions to become state premier and lead a political revolution from Saxony-Anhalt that would propel the party to national victory in 2029.

On the campaign trail, Siegmund — a former entrepreneur with a sharp undercut hairstyle and a huge social media following — has been mobbed by adoring fans, many wearing T-shirts bearing his likeness.

The party has tapped into a sense of nostalgia for communist East Germany as well as lingering resentment about an enduring wealth gap with the west decades after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

Article content

In line with the sometimes defiant sense of local “Ossie pride,” Siegmund has often ridden the iconic local Simson bike, including to the polling booth Sunday in his hometown of Tangermuende.

While Siegmund has been dubbed the friendly face of the AfD, his campaign promises have been radical. He wants to target irregular migrants with a “remigration and deportation offensive” from day one.

The party’s anti-“woke” agenda also includes vows to replace LGBTQ pride rainbow flags at public schools with the German standard, and to lessen the emphasis on the Third Reich in history teaching.

The German Economic Institute has warned the AfD’s immigration policy would be “ruinous” for Saxony-Anhalt, which is highly reliant on foreign-born workers, especially in the health sector.

The strong AfD win heaps pressure on Merz, who has vowed to reboot a stagnant economy and restrict irregular immigration, but has seen his party beaten by the AfD in national surveys too.

“The result is even worse than what opinion polls had suggested beforehand,” wrote Holger Schmieding of Berenberg bank.

“This will most likely trigger a period of serious and potentially noisy soul-searching within the CDU.

“A major reason for the AfD success seems to be that the federal government under Merz has become deeply unpopular.”

Article content