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AfD eyes state power
Polling opened in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) sought what Reuters described as a chance to become the first far-right party to take power at a state level since World War Two.
“Voting in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt began on Sunday”
Reuters said voting began in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt and that about 1.7 million voters had until 6 p.m. to cast their ballots before polls close.
The BBC framed the stakes as Germany “holding its breath this weekend” because an outright win would mark the first time a far-right party has held state-level power in the nation’s post-war era.
In Saxony-Anhalt, AfD’s lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund, under a 35-year-old lead candidacy, told Bild that “It was the others who erected the firewalls,” as he argued the party would govern without mainstream cooperation if it could not secure power through an absolute majority.
Firewalls and campaign claims
Euronews reported that AfD was polling at more than 40% and that the ZDF Politbarometer found 26% of eligible voters surveyed shortly before the state election were still undecided.
Euronews also said AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund announced he would only govern if his party won an absolute majority, and it described how the 5% threshold in Magdeburg could shape whether an outright majority is possible.
At a final rally, Reuters quoted Siegmund saying, “No matter the outcome of tomorrow's election, we have already made history,” and added that he told the crowd in Magdeburg that what was started in Saxony-Anhalt “can no longer be stopped.”
The Guardian reported that Siegmund told Bild, “If no one wants to work with us, then we'll just have to do it alone,” while also noting that all other major parties maintained a “firewall” of non-cooperation with the AfD.
What happens next
Reuters said an absolute majority would allow the AfD to bypass mainstream parties’ “firewall” noncooperation policy, while if the AfD fell short, a CDU-led administration under incumbent state premier Sven Schulze was the most likely outcome.
“If the AfD falls short of an outright majority, a CDU-led administration”
France 24 said the AfD was not guaranteed to win an absolute majority and that “it all depends in particular on the number of parties that will enter the regional parliament,” with preliminary results expected Sunday around 6 p.m. (4 p.m. GMT).
The New York Times described how the result could reverberate through the national Parliament in Berlin, where the AfD is the largest opposition group to the governing coalition of center-right and center-left parties.
In the same context of national consequences, Reuters said the Saxony-Anhalt election was a stepping stone toward the AfD’s larger ambitions of securing national power in the next federal election scheduled for 2029.