Alternative for Germany (AfD) Wins Election in Saxony-Anhalt State, According to Exit Polls

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has won the election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, according to exit polls, becoming the first far-right party to take power at the state level since World War II. The AfD won 44.5 percent of the vote, exit polls for the ARD broadcaster suggested on Sunday. This is more than double the 18.5 percent for the incumbent centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. "We have achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve," said AfD’s lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund. "We have made history in this state." AfD co-leader Alice Weidel also described the result as "historic," providing the far-right party with a clear mandate to govern, though it remains uncertain whether it will be able to form a government. Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane reported from Magdeburg that while the AfD has received a significant portion of the votes, it is unclear if this is sufficient for control of the state. Exit polls indicate that the party has narrowly missed securing an absolute majority in the state parliament in Magdeburg. Siegmund expressed a desire to collaborate with all parties willing to enact a fundamental political transformation in the state, but emphasized that the AfD would not yield to the will of other parties. The AfD has never been part of a ruling coalition in Germany’s 16 states or its federal government, as all other mainstream parties refuse to work with it, a policy known as the "firewall." Sunday’s election result poses another challenge for Merz, whose popularity has declined as his coalition government struggles to stimulate growth in Europe’s largest economy. The CDU, coming in second, hopes to form a new multi-party coalition to prevent the AfD from gaining power. The AfD has capitalized on nostalgia for communist East Germany and ongoing resentment regarding the wealth gap with the west, decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Siegmund, often seen as the friendly face of the AfD, has made radical campaign promises, including a "remigration and deportation offensive" targeting undocumented migrants from day one. The party’s anti-“woke” agenda includes proposals to replace LGBTQ pride rainbow flags at public schools with the German national flag and to alter history teaching to reduce focus on Hitler’s Third Reich. To address labor shortages, the AfD aims to attract back German expatriates and offer “baby bonuses” to families to counteract the declining population in the small state of 2.1 million. The German Economic Institute has warned that the AfD’s immigration policy could be detrimental to Saxony-Anhalt, which relies heavily on foreign-born workers, particularly in the health sector. Concerns have also been raised that an AfD-controlled state security apparatus could compromise sensitive information to Russia, potentially destabilizing Germany. Thuringia state interior minister Georg Maier stated that the Kremlin views the AfD as a key tool for destabilizing Germany under President Vladimir Putin.