AfD secures sweeping victory in Saxony-Anhalt state election

Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured a sweeping victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election on Sunday.

On the other hand, with 43.8%, the party fell just short of an outright majority in its bid to form the country’s first “far-right” state government since the Second World War. The state has a population of 2.1 million people.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s party, the CDU, suffered a poor result in the eastern state, securing 17.2%. The CDU was followed by its coalition partner, the SPD, on 9.3%. The Greens won 8.9%, Die Linke (The Left Party) 8.6%, and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) 5.3%, all managing to enter the state parliament.

Voter turnout was notably high at 77.8%. AfD appears to have won over many individuals who did not vote at all five years ago.

Among all voters, the issue of social security played the largest role at 25%. Internal security and migration issues reached a combined total of only 22%.

At the same time, AfD reached 65% among those who assessed their financial circumstances as poor.

In Saxony-Anhalt, GDP per capita stands at 38,452 euros compared with a federal average of 53,516 euros. The unemployment rate is 8.0% in Saxony-Anhalt, whereas the federal average is 6.3%. The pension for men is 1,676 euros in Saxony-Anhalt against a national average of 1,892 euros.

In the pensioner category, the CDU (27%) and AfD (38%) secured relatively close levels of support, whereas AfD led by a wide margin among workers, civil servants, and the self-employed, winning 61%, 46%, and 52% respectively.

AfD’s candidate for state premier said “we made history” and stated that the party received a clear mandate to govern.

Speaking to public broadcaster ARD, 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund said that voters sent the message that “things cannot continue this way.”

“Friedrich Merz was a very good campaigner for us in this election campaign,” Siegmund said.

AfD federal co-leader Alice Weidel described the result as “sensational” and said her party “extends its hand to anyone who wants to make Saxony-Anhalt better and move Germany forward.”

AfD was seeking an absolute majority in the state parliament to govern alone and breach the “firewall” created by mainstream parties’ refusal to cooperate with AfD.

Final results revealed that AfD fell three seats short, securing 39 lawmakers in the 83-seat parliament.

Siegmund said they would not enter into “games” such as a minority government, but it remains unclear how the divided opposition could form a stable government without AfD.

BSW, which announced that it would support neither Siegmund nor incumbent CDU leader Sven Schulze as state premier, nevertheless criticises the “firewall” erected against AfD. BSW took five seats in the state parliament.

Schulze congratulated AfD on becoming the state’s strongest political force and said, “As the CDU, we will also have to face this result.”

The federal general secretary of Merz’s party, Franziska Hoppermann, refused to back down from the commitment not to engage with AfD.

Hopermann said:

“AfD is a far-right party. It wants to exit the euro; this means economic collapse… It works in close cooperation with Russia and wants a completely different social model. We will not cooperate with them.”

AfD’s regional branch in Saxony-Anhalt is one of several classified as a “far-right group” by the domestic intelligence agency.

In its election programme, the party refers to “remigration”, meaning the deportation of immigrants.

AfD previously won the Thuringia state election but was unable to assume power. There, a CDU leader formed a minority government to take office.

Schulze’s attempt to form an alliance against AfD will be a sensitive issue, as it will require at least some tacit support from the “far-left” Left Party, with which the CDU refuses to form a coalition.

Germany’s 16 states hold broad powers in areas such as supervising security matters and managing the education system.

Siegmund had listed a “deportation drive” and the elimination of incentives for people to come to Germany and “exploit our social system” among his top priorities. Citing concerns over “disinformation”, he wants to launch a lengthy process to withdraw Saxony-Anhalt from the regional public broadcaster.

AfD in Saxony-Anhalt also wants to legalise homeschooling, which has not been permitted in Germany thus far.

The party pledges to ban the official flying of the rainbow flag at schools, claiming it “devalues the family”, and to ensure schools fly the national flag.

The party opposes taxpayer money being “gifted” to Ukraine and states it will push for the lifting of sanctions on Russia. However, this is not a matter state governments can decide.

The 16 state governments are also represented in Germany’s upper house (Bundesrat), where certain government bills must be approved. As one of the smallest states in a nation of 83.5 million, Saxony-Anhalt’s influence there is limited: it holds four of 69 votes.