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Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has secured a major victory in Saxony-Anhalt, winning 43.8% of the vote according to preliminary results. The party is projected to hold 39 of 83 seats, short of the 42 required for a majority. Coalition talks and possible cooperation with the BSW could now determine who governs the eastern state.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has emerged as the strongest political force in Saxony-Anhalt after the eastern German state election, achieving a decisive lead over the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Preliminary figures put the AfD at 43.8%, compared with 17.2% for the CDU. The result represents a dramatic improvement for the AfD compared with the previous state election in 2021.
Despite its strong performance, the AfD has not secured enough seats to govern independently. Current projections indicate that the party will win 39 of the 83 seats in the state parliament, while 42 seats are required for an outright majority.
The result leaves the composition of the next state government uncertain.
AfD state leader Ulrich Siegmund, 35, described the result as “sensational” and argued that voters had given his party a mandate to govern.
Siegmund celebrated alongside AfD national co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla as the scale of the party's gains became apparent.
The AfD's success is particularly significant because no far-right party has governed a German state since the end of World War Two. A state government would give the party substantial authority over areas including policing, education and culture.
Saxony-Anhalt has a population of about 2.1 million people.
The AfD's strongest challenge now is turning its election victory into control of the state government.
Mainstream parties have maintained a political firewall, known in Germany as the Brandmauer, against forming coalitions with the AfD. Siegmund has also indicated that he does not currently want to lead a minority government.
However, he has suggested that cooperation with individual lawmakers or another party could be possible. He also raised the prospect of another election if necessary, saying the AfD could potentially increase its support further.
The left-wing populist BSW is now attracting particular attention. The party narrowly entered the state parliament and is projected to win five seats. It has taken tougher positions on migration and supports the import of Russian gas, while leaving open the possibility of cooperation with the AfD on some issues.
The scale of the AfD's victory has prompted reactions well beyond the state.
AfD supporters described the result as a historic breakthrough. Siegmund said the election represented a signal for Germany as a whole, rather than simply a result confined to Saxony-Anhalt.
US President Donald Trump shared an image of German election projections on his Truth Social platform. Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev subsequently shared a screenshot of Trump's post and praised what he called a historic result for the AfD.
Dmitriev has previously described the AfD as a party of hope and reason and praised its approach toward Russia.
US Vice-President JD Vance also endorsed the AfD before Germany's federal election in 2025, a move that was criticised in Germany as political interference.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, meanwhile, reacted negatively to the AfD's success, saying that only “idiots and traitors” in Poland could celebrate the result.
The election was also a serious setback for the CDU. Its share of the vote fell to 17.2%, more than half below its result in the previous state election.
CDU state leader Sven Schulze acknowledged the AfD's victory and said his party would have to confront the consequences of the result.
Germany's centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) described the outcome as “truly dramatic”. National SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, whose party governs Germany nationally alongside the CDU, called the result a message to Berlin.
The result reinforces the AfD's strength in eastern Germany. Although the party is currently leading national opinion polls, its strongest electoral support remains concentrated in the former eastern states.
The AfD also won the 2024 state election in neighbouring Thuringia, but did not obtain enough seats to take power there.
In Saxony-Anhalt, voter turnout reached a particularly high 77.8%.
AfD supporters interviewed in Magdeburg cited concerns about the direction of the country, family security and public safety as reasons for supporting the party.
The AfD's political programme includes the controversial concept of “remigration.” The term is widely interpreted by critics as referring to large-scale deportations of migrants, while the party says its policy concerns criminals and people who are in Germany illegally.
A state government would not have the authority to implement the AfD's national migration agenda, but the party could exercise considerable influence over areas under state jurisdiction.
The AfD has also drawn criticism over its views on Germany's historical legacy. It has attacked the Bauhaus school of design in Dessau, calling it “the dead-end of modernism”. Critics have compared some of the party's rhetoric with language associated with the Nazi era.
At a democracy festival in Magdeburg before the election, opponents of the AfD argued that Germany should learn from its past rather than repeat it.
Charlotte Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor and veteran leader of the Jewish community in Munich and Bavaria, said the result frightened her and urged mainstream political parties not to allow further decline.
Another prominent AfD figure in Saxony-Anhalt, Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, has faced criticism over his position on Russia. Asked about a Russian army mug in his office, he described it as a souvenir and said, “it's not our war.”
The immediate focus is on negotiations over the formation of Saxony-Anhalt's next government.
With the AfD below the majority threshold and other parties generally unwilling to enter a coalition with it, the BSW and individual lawmakers could become important to the governing process.
If no workable government arrangement emerges, the possibility of another election has already been raised by AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund.
For now, the election marks one of the most significant regional advances for Germany's AfD and places renewed pressure on the country's established political parties over how they respond to the far-right party's growing electoral support.
The CDU came second with 17.2% of the vote.
Yes. Preliminary results show the AfD winning 43.8% of the vote, making it the strongest party in the state.
Not based on the current projection. The AfD is expected to hold 39 seats, while 42 are needed for a majority.
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