Daniel Wolfram
The local election result is a disastrous one for the sitting Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz.
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party just secured a massive victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, west of Berlin.
The far-right political party received 43.8 percent of the vote. That doubled its share of the vote in the same state from five years ago.
However, the party fell just three seats short of an absolute majority.
A huge surge for the far right
The election delivered a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his Christian Democratic Union party (CDU).
The party only got 17.2 percent of the vote, losing roughly half of its previous support and securing only 15 seats in the state.
Addressing supporters, the AfD’s Ulrich Siegmund declared that “we have written history” with this victory. He told German broadcaster ARD that voters sent a clear message that “things cannot carry on like this.” The 35-year-old leader added a parting shot at the sitting Chancellor, stating that “a very good campaigner for us in this election campaign was Friedrich Merz.”
Refusing to go into government with the AfD
Voter turnout hit a record high of 76.5 percent across the region, where 2.1 million people reside. The Guardian reported that the AfD’s co-leader Alice Weidel insisted the turnout gave her team a “clear government mandate” to lead.
Despite the clear defeat, leaders from the other political parties pushed back against forming any alliance with what German intelligence has called “right-wing extremists.”
Franziska Hoppermann, general secretary of the CDU, called it a “defeat overall” for her party. She added that “it is also a defeat for all those who have borne responsibility in the democracy in Saxony-Anhalt over the past 35 years.”
Even so, Siegmund insisted the AfD remained ready to move forward with a new vision for the region. He emphasized that the party’s core policy priorities such as migration and domestic security were non-negotiable. “We extend a hand to all democratic forces that wish to pursue better policies,” he said.
