The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won a state election outright for the first time in its history. In Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, September 6, the party took 43.8% of the vote, more than double its 2021 result and well ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats.
The results
- AfD: 43.8% (+23 points), 39 of 83 seats.
- CDU: 17.2% (−19.9 points), 15 seats.
- SPD: 9.3%, 8 seats.
- Greens: 8.9%, 8 seats.
- Die Linke: 8.6%, 8 seats, its worst result in the state.
- BSW: 5.3%, 5 seats.
- FDP: below the 5% threshold, out of parliament.
Turnout reached 77.8%, the highest in the state since 1989.
Can the AfD govern?
With 39 seats, the AfD is three short of a majority in the 83-seat Landtag. Its candidate for state premier, Ulrich Siegmund, needs partners or defectors. All mainstream parties have ruled out a coalition with the AfD, parts of which German intelligence services have classified as extremist.
The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is the only party that said before the vote it could work with the AfD on individual issues, but it has ruled out a formal coalition. One path discussed is a minority government that passes laws case by case. In a third round of voting for state premier, a simple majority is enough, which keeps the outcome uncertain. The new parliament must meet by October 6.
What it means for Berlin
Saxony-Anhalt holds only four of 69 votes in the Bundesrat, so the result does not change the balance in Germany’s upper house. But it piles pressure on Merz’s coalition of the CDU/CSU and SPD, and on the CDU’s long-standing “firewall” against cooperation with the far right. The outgoing state premier, the CDU’s Sven Schulze, saw his party’s vote more than halved.
The next tests come quickly: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin vote on September 20, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, in spring 2027. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán was among nationalist leaders across Europe who hailed the result.