AfD wins Saxony-Anhalt vote but falls short of solo rule

AfD won Saxony-Anhalt's regional election by a wide margin but fell short of a majority. The result deepens pressure on Friedrich Merz while leaving government formation uncertain.

In Short

• Mainstream parties still refuse cooperation, complicating formation of a stable government
• Turnout reached 77.8 per cent, boosted by many previously absent voters
• AfD secured 39 seats, ending three short of an outright majority

The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won a regional election in Germany's eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday by a wide margin, but fell just short of the absolute majority it needed to govern alone. The result is a major setback for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union, which has led the state for 24 years and suffered a sharp decline.

AfD, which is anti-migration and seen as friendly towards Russia, said the result gave it a clear mandate to govern. But with the party finishing three seats short of a majority in the 83-member state parliament, it remained unclear how any stable government could be formed, as mainstream parties have long refused to work with AfD.

Final results showed AfD winning 43.8 per cent of the vote, more than double its share from five years ago, and taking 39 seats. Merz's CDU polled 17.2 per cent, about half its previous support, and won 15 seats. The centre-left Social Democrats got 9.3 per cent, the Greens 8.9 per cent and the Left Party 8.6 per cent, with eight seats each. The BSW party won 5.3 per cent and five seats.

Ulrich Siegmund, AfD's 35-year-old candidate for governor, told public broadcaster ARD that "we have written history" and that voters had sent a signal that "things cannot carry on like this". He also said that "a very good campaigner for us in this election campaign was Friedrich Merz". He said AfD would not engage in "games" such as forming a minority government.

AfD had been aiming to secure an outright majority and break through the so-called firewall under which mainstream parties refuse to cooperate with it. A first state government would be the biggest prize in the party's 13-year history. Even if it does not enter government, the result is a serious blow to Merz at a time of broad discontent with the national government and its failure so far to convince voters that it can revive Germany's sluggish economy.

Modern Germany has not had a far-right or right-wing populist party lead a national, state or major-city government. AfD is the biggest opposition party in the national parliament and is strongest in the formerly communist and less prosperous east, where Saxony-Anhalt is located. Its regional branch in Saxony-Anhalt is among several that Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified as a proven right-wing extremist group, citing among other things members' denigration of migrants from Muslim countries. The party talks of "remigration", a politically charged term for the deportation of immigrants. In a neighbouring state, one of its leaders appealed two convictions for knowingly using a Nazi slogan. AfD rejects accusations of extremism and says they are politically motivated.

Turnout was very high at 77.8 per cent, and AfD appeared to have drawn many people who did not vote five years ago. AfD national co-leader Alice Weidel called the result "sensational" and said that "we have received a very clear mandate to govern here". She added that the party's "hand is outstretched to all who want to make Saxony-Anhalt better and move Germany forward". The party may hope to win defectors from other parties.

Incumbent governor Sven Schulze congratulated AfD on becoming the state's strongest political force and said that "we as the CDU will also have to deal with this result", without saying how. Franziska Hoppermann, the national general secretary of Merz's party, rejected any softening of the CDU's stance. "AfD is a right-wing extremist party. It wants to leave the euro; that would be economic downfall ... it works closely together with Russia, it wants a completely different social model," she said. "We will not work with them."

AfD has previously won a state election without entering government. That happened two years ago in neighbouring Thuringia, where a CDU governor took office with a minority government, though AfD had been much further from a majority there. In Saxony-Anhalt, any attempt by Schulze to put together an alliance against AfD would be delicate, as it would need at least some tacit backing from the hard-left Left Party, with which the CDU refuses to form coalitions.

Germany's 16 states have extensive powers, including over security matters and the education system. Siegmund has listed among his top priorities "a deportation offensive" and scrapping incentives for people to come to Germany and "exploit our social system". He also wants to begin a long process to withdraw Saxony-Anhalt from the regional public broadcaster, citing concerns about "disinformation". AfD in Saxony-Anhalt wants to allow home schooling, which is currently not permitted in Germany. It also wants to ban schools from officially flying the rainbow flag and ensure they fly the national flag. The party opposes taxpayers' money being "given away" to Ukraine and says it would push to lift sanctions against Russia, though those are not matters state governments can decide.

The governments of Germany's 16 states also sit in the country's upper house of parliament, which must approve some legislation. Saxony-Anhalt, with a population of 2.1 million in a country of 83.5 million, controls four of the 69 votes there. The election has given AfD a decisive victory and exposed the weakness of Merz's party in one of its long-held strongholds, but it has also left open the central question of who will govern the state.

With PTI Inputs

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