Germany's far-right party AfD take lead in state election

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged into first place in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt today, but it ⁠was unclear whether it would be able to form a government on its own, according to exit polls after voting closed.

The AfD won 44.5% of the vote, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives on 18.5%, with the centre-left Social Democrats and environmental Greens both clearing the minimum threshold to enter parliament, an exit poll on the ARD broadcaster showed.

The party's co-leader Alice Weidel hailed an "historic" result which had given ‌the AfD a clear ⁠mandate to govern, but it was not immediately clear whether it would be able to form agovernment.

If the AfD is unable to rule outright, it could trigger aprotracted process of coalition building by mainstream parties who are determined to keep out of power ‌a party investigated for right-wing extremism by Germany's domestic intelligence service.

The left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a potential AfD ⁠coalition partner, could also clear the threshold.

While hard right parties have ‌gained ground elsewhere in Europe, Germany's Nazi past has contributed to ⁠a reluctance among ‌mainstream parties to cooperate with the AfD, which wants a hard line on migration and warmer ties with Russia.

The AfD, led in Saxony-Anhalt by the 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund, sees accusations ⁠of extremism as scaremongering and an insult to its millions of supporters.

Today’s result is ⁠also another blow to the authority of Mr Merz, whose popularity has sagged as his coalition government struggles to revive growth in Europe’s largest economy.

In a fracturing political landscape, the AfD is now Germany’s most popular party nationally, though other parties have ruled out forging coalitions with the AfD in a ‌policy known as the "firewall".

AfD 'can no longer be stopped'

For the AfD, the Saxony-Anhalt election is a stepping stone towards its larger ambitions of securing national power in the next federal election scheduled for 2029.

"No matter the outcome of tomorrow's election, we have already made history," said Mr Siegmund at a final rally yesterday evening.

"Because what we have started here in Saxony-Anhalt - that is currently sweeping across all of Germany - can no longer be stopped," he told the crowd in the state capital, Magdeburg.

Should it win, the AfD plans to shift schools and cultural institutions towards more traditional values, marginalise immigrants and deeply reform the public broadcasting system.

However, without an absolute majority, the AfD, which has been classified as "far-right extremist" by the state security service, would struggle to enter government due to the firewall.

Mr Siegmund, who arrived to cast his vote in his hometown of Tangermuende on a blue Simson moped, greeted by throngs of excited fans, has ruled out entering a coalition with other parties.

He argues that it is impossible for the AfD to govern with the mainstream politicians who have been driving Germany into the ground over the past three decades and instead is aiming to win 45% or more of the vote.