AfD wins Saxony-Anhalt election with 43.8%, three seats short of a majority

One idea being floated is whether there could be informal deal whereby a small party - the BSW - could give their tacit support to allow the AfD to form a minority government.

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The left-wing populist BSW, which is set to win five seats, is also tough on migration and backs importing Russian gas.

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Ahead of Germany's federal election last year, US Vice-President JD Vance endorsed the party, in a move criticised in Germany as political interference.

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The AfD leads the opinion polls nationally, ahead of the ruling conservatives of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the Social Democrats, but their heartland lies in the eastern states.

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It would not be able to achieve either if it ran the government of one of 16 states.

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The party has been particularly critical of the Bauhaus school of design which the Nazis shut down in the city of Dessau in Saxony-Anhalt after they came to power in 1933.

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The AfD has called it "the dead-end of modernism", prompting some to accuse the party of using similar language to the Nazis.

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A trio of left-wing parties - The Left, the Greens and the Social Democrats (SPD) - passed the 5% hurdle, each hovering around 9%.

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The pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) secured 2.6% of the vote, failing to reach the threshold.

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Despite the AfD's election win, it is not yet clear who will lead the next government in Saxony-Anhalt, as the country's mainstream parties refuse to work with it, a policy infamously known as the "firewall."

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A continuation of the existing three-way coalition under state premier Sven Schulze from the CDU is impossible, as the FDP finished below the 5% threshold.

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Schulze could seek to form a new government coalition but would be reliant on votes from The Left, a party that the CDU has refused any collaboration with.

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CDU Secretary-General Franziska Hoppermann rejected any debate over Merz’s future and again ruled out cooperation with either the AfD or The Left.

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The rout piles pressure on Merz, who once vowed to cut the AfD in half but has been chancellor while the far-right party has boomed in the polls.

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But the CDU’s refusal to cooperate with The Left makes constructing an anti-AfD majority harder.

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Mainstream politicians around Europe have expressed alarm after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) swept to a historic state election victory in Germany, while nationalist figures cheered the result as a mandate for change.

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The AfD is pro-Kremlin, has called for an end to aid for Ukraine and and refugee status for Ukrainians.

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Far-right leaders in Spain and Portugal also hailed the AfD’s win.

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France’s National Rally (RN), which two years ago expelled the AfD from its European parliamentary group, has made clear that it finds the German party’s rhetoric and policies too extreme.

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The two parties’ rift followed comments by a leading AfD figure, Maximilian Krah, downplaying the crimes of the Nazi SS by suggesting they were “not all criminals” and revelations that the German party backed mass deportations of immigrants.

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Not all of Europe’s far-right parties were pleased.

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Whether or not AfD ends up governing, the result is a blow to Merz, whose center-right party has led Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years.

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A first state government would be the biggest prize in the anti-migration party's 13-year history, at a time of widespread discontent with a national government that has yet to persuade voters that it can get the country's sluggish economy moving.

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AfD is the biggest opposition party in Germany's national parliament and is strongest in the formerly communist and less prosperous east, where Saxony-Anhalt is located.

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That was far ahead of Merz's Christian Democratic Union, which polled 17.2% — losing about half its support — and won 15 seats.

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Its leader in a neighboring state appealed two convictions for knowingly using a Nazi slogan.

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AfD appeared to have won over many people who didn't vote at all five years ago.

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Any attempt by Schulze to put together an alliance against AfD would be delicate because it would require at least some tacit support from the Left Party, a hard-left party with which the CDU refuses to form coalitions.

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He wants to initiate a long process to withdraw Saxony-Anhalt from the regional public broadcaster, citing concerns about "disinformation."

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AfD in Saxony-Anhalt wants to allow home schooling, which so far isn't permitted in Germany.

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It pledges to ban schools from officially raising the rainbow flag, which it says "stands for the devaluation of the family," and ensure they fly the national flag.

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It opposes taxpayers' money being "given away" to Ukraine and says it would push to lift sanctions against Russia, but that isn't a matter state governments can decide.

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The 16 states' governments also sit in Germany's upper house of parliament, which has to approve some government legislation.

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The influence there of Saxony-Anhalt, one of the smaller states in a nation of 83.5 people, is limited — it controls four of the 69 votes.

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BERLIN, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Chancellor Friedrich Merz ruled out working with the Alternative for Germany ⁠on ⁠Monday after the far-right party surged into first place in state elections ⁠in Saxony-Anhalt, but he conceded the result had shaken his party "to its very foundations".

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While sounding chastened, and vowing to try harder to connect with voters, Merz batted away suggestions that he might resign, saying he would broadly stick with his government's reform agenda.

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Merz, whose own approval ratings have sunk to record lows, faces more state ​elections in the coming weeks and into next year, though he hopes his mix of reforms and higher spending in some areas will revive growth in Europe's largest economy.

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The only German party that has signalled readiness to work with the AfD is the populist left-wing BSW.

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The BSW shares the AfD's hostility towards mass immigration, which it says undermines local workers' rights, and also advocates for ending Germany's support for Ukraine and restoring ties with Moscow.

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"Peace in Europe" was the second biggest factor driving ⁠which way people voted in Saxony-Anhalt, according to numbers from the ARD broadcaster.

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According to a breakdown of voters, the AfD was particularly popular among men, with 50% voting for the party compared to 39% of women.

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However, the party — which wants to deport immigrants, halt support for Ukraine and restore ties with Moscow — fell short of an absolute majority in the state legislature, winning 39 of the 83 seats, and hopes to ⁠poach individual conservative lawmakers.

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Top candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) Ulrich Siegmund speaks accompanied by party co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla at the AfD election party after polls closed in the Saxony-Anhalt state elections and exit polls were announced, in Magdeburg, Germany, September 6, 2026. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

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