“We have made history today,” said Ulrich Siegmund, the 35-year-old lead candidate of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), as the party secured a sweeping victory in Saxony-Anhalt.
However, it remained unclear whether the AfD had won enough votes to secure an outright majority and govern the eastern German state on its own for the first time.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished a distant second with around 18.5 per cent of the vote, according to exit polls by broadcasters ARD and ZDF. Depending on the final results, Saxony-Anhalt Premier Sven Schulze could seek to form a multi-party coalition to prevent the AfD from taking power.
Germany’s major political parties have so far maintained a “firewall” against cooperation with the AfD, which is considered Moscow-friendly and whose state branch has been classified as “right-wing extremist” by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
An AfD-led state government would mark a significant political shift in Germany, where extremist parties have traditionally been kept out of government amid the country’s efforts to confront its history of Nazi rule, World War II and the Holocaust.
The possibility of the far-right party taking power drew thousands of protesters to a rally in regional capital Magdeburg on Saturday. Demonstrators carried banners opposing the AfD and warning against the rise of far-right politics.
Siegmund, a prominent and media-savvy AfD politician, has said he aims to use a victory in Saxony-Anhalt as a launching pad for a broader political transformation ahead of Germany’s 2029 national election.
A former entrepreneur with a large social media following, Siegmund has attracted strong support during the campaign. His appeal has also tapped into nostalgia for communist-era East Germany and continuing economic grievances in the region, including the longstanding wealth gap between eastern and western Germany.
Known for projecting a more approachable image of the AfD, Siegmund has nevertheless campaigned on a hardline agenda. He has pledged to launch a “remigration and deportation offensive” targeting irregular migrants if elected.
The party has also campaigned against what it calls “woke” policies, including proposals to replace LGBTQ pride flags at public schools and alter the teaching of German history to reduce the focus on the Nazi era.
To address the state’s declining population, the AfD has proposed encouraging German expatriates to return and introducing financial incentives for families to have children.
The German Economic Institute has warned that the party’s immigration policies could severely affect Saxony-Anhalt’s economy, which depends heavily on foreign-born workers, particularly in the healthcare sector.
Concerns have also been raised over the potential security implications of an AfD-led state government, including fears that sensitive information could be passed to Russia.
The strong electoral performance has also increased pressure on Chancellor Merz, whose government has pledged to revive Germany’s sluggish economy and tighten controls on irregular immigration. The CDU has also faced growing competition from the AfD in national opinion polls.
Political scientist Wolfgang Schroeder of Kassel University said the result would intensify criticism of Merz and increase demands for stronger leadership within his party.
