In the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, a region shaped by decades of post-reunification transformation, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland crossed 40 percent of the vote on a September Sunday — a threshold that would have seemed unthinkable not long ago. The CDU, which has governed this land between the Elbe and the Harz for nearly a quarter century, saw its mandate cut in half, while the party that Germany's own intelligence services classify as extremist claimed a historic mandate of its own. What the result confirms is not merely a shift in preference but a deeper rupture in t
AfD's historic 40%+ win in Saxony-Anhalt reshapes German politics
This is democracy. And it hurts.
Mark
So the AfD got over 40 percent. That's a big number. What does it actually mean for how Saxony-Anhalt gets governed?
Mimi
It means they're the largest single party, but they can't govern alone. Every other party has said no to working with them. So the real question is whether the CDU, SPD, Greens, and this new BSW party can piece together a majority without the AfD.
Luke
Wait—do we know if those numbers actually add up? The source says the BSW "narrowly" made it into parliament. That's not a guarantee they have enough seats to form a coalition.
Mimi
That's fair. The source doesn't give us the exact seat counts, just that the AfD is over 40 and the other parties are represented. The actual coalition math is still being worked out.
Mark
What about Merz? The AfD is saying he's finished.
Mimi
Weidel said he'd be replaced before Christmas. But that's her reading of the result, not a prediction based on any formal mechanism. Merz's popularity is genuinely low across the country, and he barely campaigned here. The CDU locally was actually glad he stayed away.
Luke
So we have one party leader's claim about the chancellor's future, but no reporting on whether there's actual pressure within the CDU or the coalition to remove him. That's a big gap.
Mark
The Greens seemed conflicted. They made it into parliament but looked miserable about it.
Mimi
They were facing elimination a few weeks ago. So clearing the threshold was a genuine relief. But their co-leader Felix Banaszak made the point that there's no celebration when you're not sure if extremists will end up governing anyway. He'd been campaigned against and attacked while he was out there.
Luke
The source does mention he was "openly attacked and verbally abused" on social media, and people close to him think that may have helped the Greens. But we don't have specifics on what those attacks were or how widespread they were.
Mark
What about the refugee issue? The AfD made that central to their campaign.
Mimi
They promised mass deportations of rejected asylum seekers starting immediately. The Left Party called it a dark day specifically because of those policies and what they'd mean for people in the state.
Luke
That's the AfD's stated position, but the source doesn't give us reporting on what the actual asylum situation looks like in Saxony-Anhalt or how many people would be affected by those deportations. It's the policy as campaign rhetoric, not as analyzed consequence.
Mark
So what happens next?
Mimi
Coalition talks. The mainstream parties have to figure out if they can govern together without the AfD. Merz holds a press conference Monday. And we'll find out whether the BSW actually has enough seats to be the kingmaker.
Luke
And whether the CDU, which governed for 24 years, is willing to sit in opposition or take a junior role. That's a huge shift in the state's politics, and we don't yet know how it resolves.
The Pulse
- A party officially designated as far-right extremist has just won more than 40% of the vote in a German state, shattering every precedent for how far such movements can travel within democratic systems.
- The CDU, which governed Saxony-Anhalt for 24 unbroken years, watched its vote share collapse by half in a single night, leaving its new premier to face a sparse crowd and offer only the stoic words: 'This is democracy.'
- Despite their dominant result, the AfD cannot govern — every other party has categorically refused coalition talks, forcing a scramble to determine whether the remaining mainstream forces can arithmetically hold the line.
- The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance emerged as an unlikely pivot point, its narrow entry into parliament potentially the deciding factor in whether a non-extremist government can be assembled at all.
- Chancellor Merz, who barely set foot in the campaign and whose approval ratings have cratered nationally, now faces a Monday press conference and mounting questions about his own political survival.
- Across the political spectrum — from Greens weeping with mixed relief and dread to SPD officials striking cautious optimism — the night closed without resolution, leaving eastern Germany's political landscape fundamentally and perhaps permanently altered.
In the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, a region shaped by decades of post-reunification transformation, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland crossed 40 percent of the vote on a September Sunday — a threshold that would have seemed unthinkable not long ago. The CDU, which has governed this land between the Elbe and the Harz for nearly a quarter century, saw its mandate cut in half, while the party that Germany's own intelligence services classify as extremist claimed a historic mandate of its own. What the result confirms is not merely a shift in preference but a deeper rupture in the social contract between established institutions and a significant portion of the German electorate — a rupture whose consequences will outlast any single coalition negotiation.
The moment preliminary results appeared in the Saxony-Anhalt press center, the room broke into controlled chaos. Camera operators jostled for position, security details barked orders, and AfD co-chairs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla arrived to claim a result that felt, even to them, larger than anticipated. The numbers were unambiguous: the party classified by Germany's domestic intelligence agency as a confirmed far-right extremist organization had secured well over 40 percent of the vote.
For the CDU, which has governed this region for 24 consecutive years, the night was one of quiet devastation. New premier Sven Schulze — who had only taken the job at the start of the year — stood before a thin crowd of loyalists and offered no spin, only acknowledgment. One supporter compared the experience to sitting in a dentist's waiting room: you know it's going to hurt, and there's nowhere to go.
Weidel wasted no time declaring a mandate to govern and predicting that Chancellor Friedrich Merz — whose approval ratings have collapsed and who had largely avoided the campaign — would not survive the year in office. Chrupalla, for his part, admitted privately that even he had not foreseen a victory this decisive.
Yet the AfD's triumph carries a structural ceiling. Without an absolute majority, and with every other party having explicitly ruled out coalition talks, the path to actual governance remains blocked. Attention shifted quickly to the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, which appeared to narrowly clear the five-percent parliamentary threshold and could prove essential to assembling a mainstream governing bloc.
Elsewhere, the night produced its own smaller dramas. Green Party staffers wept — partly from relief at surviving the threshold, partly from dread at what the broader result meant. The Left Party's Eva von Angern called it a dark day. The SPD, defying grim predictions, secured parliamentary representation and cautiously floated the possibility of a broad coalition of all non-AfD parties.
As the evening ended, the fundamental questions remained open: who would govern Saxony-Anhalt, what the result would cost Merz nationally, and whether the democratic center could hold in eastern Germany's shifting political terrain. A press conference was scheduled. The reckoning had only just begun.
The press center in Saxony-Anhalt erupted into controlled chaos the moment the preliminary results appeared on screen. Journalists and camera operators scrambled for position as Ulrich Siegmund, the far-right Alternative for Germany's leading candidate, moved quickly through the room with his security detail, hunting for the best camera angle. Within minutes, party co-chairs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla arrived, and the jostling intensified—bodyguards shouting orders, the energy of a room that had just witnessed something unprecedented.
At 6 p.m., the numbers confirmed what the commotion suggested: the AfD, classified by Germany's domestic intelligence agency as "confirmed far-right extremist," had secured well over 40 percent of the vote. For the Christian Democratic Union, which has governed this region between the Elbe and Harz Mountains for the last 24 years, the result was unambiguous defeat. Weidel stood before reporters and declared it a mandate to form a government. She went further, predicting that Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose approval ratings have collapsed nationwide, would be replaced before the year ended. The claim carried weight—Merz had barely campaigned in Saxony-Anhalt, and the local CDU had been relieved by his absence. Tino Chrupalla, the AfD co-chair, added his own jab, accusing the chancellor of making grand pronouncements while "unnecessarily escalating" tensions with Russia. Later, when the cameras stopped rolling, Chrupalla admitted he had not anticipated such a decisive victory.
The AfD's election party at the Altes Theater, just steps from the press center, operated under security protocols that felt outsized for a regional election. Police dogs searched attendees at the entrance. Bags were checked twice. One DW correspondent remarked that it resembled a G7 summit more than a state election. By the weekend, 1,800 additional police officers had been deployed to Saxony-Anhalt from other federal states to maintain order.
At the Maritim Hotel, where the CDU held its election gathering, the mood was grimly resigned. Sven Schulze, the incumbent premier who had taken over the job only at the beginning of the year after Reiner Haseloff stepped down, stood before a sparse crowd of die-hard supporters with a stony expression and said simply: "This is democracy." The party's vote share had been cut in half compared to the previous state election. One CDU supporter described the experience to a DW reporter with bitter humor: "It's a bit like being in the dentist's waiting room. You know it's going to hurt, but you can't run away."
Yet the AfD's commanding result does not guarantee it will govern. The party lacks an absolute majority, and every other political force in the state has explicitly ruled out forming a coalition with it. All eyes turned to the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, a party that combines economically left-wing positions with conservative social stances and appeared likely to narrowly clear the five-percent threshold needed for parliament. Eva von Angern, the leading candidate for the socialist Left Party, called the election result a "dark day" for Saxony-Anhalt, citing the AfD's hardline refugee policies and its campaign promise to deport rejected asylum seekers "from day one."
The Greens experienced the night as a strange mixture of relief and dread. Predictions had suggested they might fail to enter parliament, but the preliminary results showed them safely above the five-percent threshold. Some staff members at their election party had tears in their eyes when the projections appeared—tears of relief for their own survival and tears of shock at the AfD's strength. Party co-leader Felix Banaszak, who had campaigned extensively in the state and endured public attacks and verbal abuse documented on social media, told DW there was "no reason to jump for joy when it's still unclear whether far-right extremists will be able to govern this state."
The center-left Social Democrats, junior partners in Merz's federal government, struck an unexpectedly optimistic note. Despite predictions they would perform poorly, they had secured representation in the state parliament. SPD Secretary-General Tim Klüssendorf suggested from Berlin that a coalition of all mainstream parties might yet form a government without the AfD, if the numbers allowed it.
As the night wore on, much remained unresolved: who would actually govern Saxony-Anhalt, what consequences the result would carry for Chancellor Merz, and whether the mainstream parties could construct a viable alternative to far-right rule. Merz scheduled a press conference for Monday midday. Until then, the political landscape of eastern Germany had shifted in ways that would take weeks to fully understand.
Notable Quotes
This is a mandate for us to form a government.— Alice Weidel, AfD co-chair
There's no reason to jump for joy when it's still unclear whether far-right extremists will be able to govern this state.— Felix Banaszak, Greens co-leader
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Politics & Governance