Far-Right AfD Scores Biggest-Ever Victory In German State Election

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

MAGDEBURG, GERMANY (Worthy News) – Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) scored its biggest electoral success to date Sunday, winning about 44 percent of the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt and inflicting a crushing defeat on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives.

The result raised the prospect of Germany getting its first far-right state government since World War Two, although the party fell short of an outright parliamentary majority, projections suggested.

Sunday’s outcome was the biggest victory in the AfD’s 13-year history, more than doubling its 20.8 percent share of the vote in the state election five years ago.

In a major turnaround, the results put it far ahead of Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which received about 17 percent after governing Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years.

AfD’s 35-year-old lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, declared that “we have written history,” saying voters had sent a message that “things cannot carry on like this” and describing the result as a signal to Germany’s political establishment in Berlin.

GOVERNMENT UNCERTAIN

The AfD had sought an absolute majority that would allow it to govern alone, but projections indicated it remained short of the seats needed to achieve that goal, leaving uncertainty over whether Siegmund could become state governor.

Germany’s established parties have maintained a political “firewall” against cooperation with the AfD, and senior CDU officials reiterated that they would not enter a coalition with the party.

Yet the outcome meant a major setback for Merz, whose CDU saw its support in Saxony-Anhalt more than halved from the 37.1 percent it received in 2021.

AfD national co-leader Alice Weidel called the result “sensational” and said the party had received a clear mandate to govern, adding that its “hand is outstretched” to others willing to cooperate.

Siegmund has portrayed victory in Saxony-Anhalt as part of a broader effort to eventually bring the AfD into Germany’s national government, with the party looking toward the next federal election in 2029.

NATIONAL AMBITIONS

The AfD campaigned on sharply reducing immigration, accelerating deportations and eliminating what Siegmund describes as incentives encouraging migrants to use Germany’s welfare system.

It also wants Saxony-Anhalt to allow homeschooling and prohibit schools from officially flying rainbow flags associated with the LGBTQ+ community while emphasizing the German national flag, even though AfD national co-leader Alice Weidel is openly lesbian. The AfD also wants the state to withdraw from its regional public broadcaster over what Siegmund alleges is “disinformation.”

The party opposes German taxpayers’ money being sent to Ukraine and favors lifting sanctions against Russia, although foreign policy is primarily decided by Germany’s federal government rather than individual states.

The AfD’s rise has been accompanied by controversies over extremist views and Nazi-era rhetoric involving prominent figures within the party.

Saxony-Anhalt’s domestic intelligence agency has classified the AfD’s state organization as a proven right-wing extremist group, citing among its concerns statements denigrating migrants, particularly those from Muslim-majority countries. The AfD strongly rejects the classification and says accusations of extremism are politically motivated.

EXTREMISM CONTROVERSIES

In neighboring Thuringia, influential AfD politician Björn Höcke was convicted twice in 2024 for knowingly using “Alles für Deutschland” (“Everything for Germany”), a prohibited slogan associated with the Nazi-era Sturmabteilung, or SA. Höcke appealed the convictions.

Questions have also been raised about people surrounding Siegmund. German media reported that several employees of the AfD parliamentary group in Saxony-Anhalt had previously belonged to the now-banned Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend (HDJ), a neo-Nazi youth organization that promoted racial ideology and admiration for Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism.

Siegmund himself has sought to present a younger and more mainstream image of the AfD while arguing that Germany requires fundamental political change.

The AfD already emerged as the strongest party in Thuringia’s 2024 state election but was excluded from power after other parties refused to cooperate with it.

No far-right or right-wing populist party has led Germany at the federal or state level, or governed a major city, in the post-World War Two era.

With turnout around 77 percent, Sunday’s result underscored the AfD’s growing strength in Germany’s formerly communist east and put renewed pressure on the political firewall maintained by its rivals. Saxony-Anhalt has about 2.1 million inhabitants and significant authority over areas including education and security, while holding four of the 69 votes in Germany’s Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament.

EUROPE WATCHING

The election is also being closely watched elsewhere in Europe, particularly in France, where far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen is campaigning for the 2027 presidential election and has been leading recent opinion polls.

In Britain, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has also made immigration and national sovereignty central political issues.

Analysts say mounting concern over immigration has contributed to the rise of populist and far-right parties across Europe, alongside economic pressures and dissatisfaction with established political parties.

Germany and other European countries have received millions of migrants and asylum seekers in recent years, including people fleeing war, persecution and poverty in predominantly Muslim countries.