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AzerNEWS Staff

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Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has scored a historic victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, securing 44.5% of the vote in Sunday’s state election, according to exit polls.

The result places the AfD far ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which received 18.5%, according to figures reported by public broadcaster ARD and cited by Reuters.

The result represents a major breakthrough for the AfD and puts the party on the brink of potentially forming its first state government in post-war Germany. However, it remained unclear whether the party had secured enough seats to govern alone.

AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund described the result as historic and presented it as a potential step towards greater national influence ahead of Germany’s 2029 federal election.

The scale of the victory represents a major setback for the CDU, which has governed Saxony-Anhalt for much of the past two decades. The AfD more than doubled its support compared with the 2021 state election, when it won 20.8% of the vote.

Other parties remained considerably behind. The Left was projected at around 9.5%, while the Greens and Social Democrats were both below 10%. The smaller Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance was hovering around the 5% threshold, a factor that could prove decisive in determining the final distribution of seats.

The AfD has said it wants to govern only if it can secure an absolute majority, while Germany’s mainstream parties have continued to reject cooperation with the party. That means the election victory does not automatically translate into control of the state government.

Nevertheless, the result marks a profound shift in Germany’s political landscape. No far-right party has previously led a German state government since the end of the Second World War.

The Saxony-Anhalt result is also likely to intensify debate over the future of Germany’s political centre and the ability of mainstream parties to contain the AfD's growing electoral appeal.