Europe · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
AfD Wins Historic Saxony-Anhalt State Election, Exit Polls Put Party Near Power
AfD projected to win Saxony-Anhalt with about 44% of the vote, well ahead of CDU. Result could give AfD its first regional government since World War II, though not majority.
Whether the election result should be viewed as a mandate/go-ahead for governance.
2 of 3 outlets skipped it: trump posted the election projection and Russian envoy praised it.
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Same story, two versions
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ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
“said his party was prepared to reach out to all parties to form government.”Read the original ↗
BBC
“No far-right party has won control of a German state since World War Two, and governing at state level would mean powers over policing, local education and culture.”Read the original ↗
The BBC leans on legal/institutional break with the past; ABC foregrounds coalition readiness.
AfD nears power in Saxony-Anhalt
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged into first place in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, with exit polls putting the party within reach of power at the state level for the first time since World War Two.
“The AfD won 44.5% of the vote”
Reuters said the AfD won 44.5% of the vote, up from 20.8% in 2021, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU fell to 18.5% from 37.1% in 2021.
The BBC reported the AfD was set for a record 44% of the vote, well ahead of the conservative CDU on 17%, and said governing at state level would mean powers over policing, local education and culture.B
In Magdeburg, supporters celebrated as projections came in, and the BBC said Ulrich Siegmund told supporters, "This isn't just about Saxony-Anhalt," adding, "It's a signal for the whole of Germany - a self-confident signal."B
Firewalls, mandates, and reactions
As counting continued, it remained unclear whether the AfD would have enough votes to form a government, with the BBC saying the party wanted to start governing as soon as possible while being projected to fall short of a majority.
The BBC quoted Ulrich Siegmund saying it was "sensational" and that they wanted to start governing as soon as possible, while Reuters reported that he cast the result as a step toward national power in federal elections due in 2029.B
The BBC described a Brandmauer or firewall as other parties refused to go into coalition with the AfD, and it said Saxony-Anhalt’s AfD branch was assessed by domestic intelligence as "right-wing extremist", a classification Siegmund rejected.B
In response to the outcome, the BBC reported that Sven Schulze conceded victory and said, "This was an extremely tough and intensive election campaign," as Germany’s centre-left SPD described the result as "truly dramatic".B
What’s at stake next
The election outcome in Saxony-Anhalt raised the stakes for Germany’s federal politics because Reuters said the result dealt a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and reflected deep unpopularity of Germany's ruling coalition.
“"a vote of no confidence in the federal government,"”
Reuters reported that 87% of the state's voters were unhappy with the federal government, and it quoted Marcel Fratzscher, the president of the German Institute for Economic Research, saying the result was "a vote of no confidence in the federal government."
The BBC said governing at state level would give the AfD powers over policing, local education and culture, and it noted that the AfD was heading for 39 seats in the 83-seat state parliament instead of the 42 needed for an outright majority.B
In the wider European context, Reuters said far-right leaders in other European countries cheered the election as a mandate for change, while the BBC reported that US President Donald Trump posted a screenshot of the German TV projection on his Truth Social platform and Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised a "historic win for the pragmatic AfD".B