Germany's AfD Claims Historic Win in Saxony-Anhalt State Election

Germany's Alternative for Germany party claimed a commanding victory Sunday in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, exit polls showed, positioning it to become the first far-right party to govern a German state since the end of World War II — though whether it can actually form a government remained uncertain.

Projections from the ARD and ZDF public broadcasters, based on exit polls and early vote counts, put the AfD at roughly 44 of the vote — more than double its showing in the same state five years ago and far ahead of any other party. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union, which has governed Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years, was projected at around 18 percent, roughly half its previous result.

The AfD's lead candidate in the state, 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund, declared: "We have made history in this state." Speaking to public broadcaster ARD, he said voters had sent a signal that "things cannot carry on like this," and pointedly credited Merz's unpopularity as a boost for his own campaign.

AfD national co-leader Alice Weidel called the result "sensational" and said her party had received a "clear mandate to govern."

The party's platform in the state, including its calls for a "remigration and deportation offensive," shifts in education policy and public broadcasting, and closer relations with Russia, drew strong support from voters in the region who had backed the AfD in far greater numbers than before. The AfD went into the vote seeking an outright majority to rule alone, since all other mainstream parties have refused to enter a coalition with it — a policy those parties call a Brandmauer, or firewall. Initial projections suggested the party fell marginally short of the seats needed for an absolute majority in the 83-seat state parliament.

The math hinges partly on whether the BSW, a small left-populist splinter party, clears the 5 percent threshold needed to enter the legislature. If BSW falls short, the AfD's path to a majority improves significantly. Early projections put BSW at or just above that line, leaving the outcome in flux as counting continued.

A visibly deflated incumbent Governor Sven Schulze of the CDU conceded the AfD had become the state's dominant political force and said his party would need to reckon with the result — without specifying how. The CDU's national general secretary ruled out any softening of the firewall policy, describing the AfD as an extremist party whose economic and foreign-policy agenda would damage Germany.

Turnout was estimated at around 76 to 78 percent — notably high for a state election in Saxony-Anhalt, a thinly populated region of 2.1 million people in what was formerly communist East Germany.

Saxony-Anhalt's AfD branch has been formally classified as a right-wing extremist organization by Germany's domestic intelligence service. The AfD rejects that classification as politically motivated.

The Left Party, Social Democrats, and Greens each polled around 9 percent.

Among the AfD's first challenges if it does form a government: state powers cover policing, education, and culture — significant levers, but not the sweeping federal authorities that shape immigration law. The AfD had no path to governing in neighboring Thuringia after winning that state's election two years ago, when a CDU minority government took power instead.