Germany is facing an unprecedented political shift after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured a historic electoral win in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, bringing the party closer to holding state-level executive power than any far-right German force has since the end of World War II.
Preliminary vote counts released after Sunday’s election show the AfD captured 43.8% of the popular vote, translating to 39 seats in the 83-member state legislature—just three seats short of the 42-seat absolute majority needed to form a government on its own. The result marks the most successful electoral performance in the party’s history, and party leaders are now moving aggressively to build the governing alliances needed to take control of the state administration.
Beatrix von Storch, deputy leader of the AfD’s federal parliamentary group, told the BBC that the party is now “very, very close” to taking power. In a direct appeal to rival political parties, von Storch argued that democratic norms require acknowledging the will of voters, saying: “You cannot say I do not accept the vote of the people.” She warned that a blanket refusal by other parties to negotiate with the AfD could trigger political deadlock, stating: “then we might end up in severe chaos and maybe we have a new election.”
Those remarks were echoed on Monday by Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s top candidate and state leader in Saxony-Anhalt, who framed the election outcome as a clear expression of voter confidence. At a post-election press conference, Siegmund called the result a “clear mandate to govern”.
Unlike most of Germany, where mainstream parties have maintained a strict cordon sanitaire banning any cooperation with the AfD, the party is now sounding out potential partners to form a government. Siegmund confirmed that exploratory talks were launched as early as Sunday night, and that negotiations could stretch on for days or weeks. “We reach out to everybody first, we will have consultations and then we’ll see whether [there are] individual parliamentary groups or MPs who would be willing to help us,” he explained. Von Storch added that the AfD has already initiated conversations with disaffected members of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the lead party in both Saxony-Anhalt’s outgoing governing coalition and Germany’s national government, claiming many CDU lawmakers are “very, very unhappy with their own party”. Preliminary results put the CDU in a distant second place in Saxony-Anhalt with just 17.2% of the vote.
One of the most widely discussed potential paths to power for the AfD is an informal minority government arrangement, where the small left-wing populist BSW (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht) would provide tacit external support. The BSW, which is projected to win five seats in the new state parliament, shares policy ground with the AfD on two key issues: it takes a hard line on migration and supports resuming energy imports of Russian natural gas. To date, all German parties apart from the BSW have ruled out any form of cooperation with the AfD.
Saxony-Anhalt, home to just 2.1 million people, is part of the AfD’s electoral heartland in eastern Germany, where the party has built consistent support over the past decade. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency already classifies the Saxony-Anhalt AfD branch as a confirmed “right-wing extremist” organization—a designation that Siegmund, the 35-year-old state party leader, rejects outright.
A far-right party governing a German state would be a watershed moment for post-WWII German politics, and controlling a state administration would grant the AfD meaningful policy powers over policing and public education. While the result is limited to one state for now, it reflects a growing national trend: the AfD currently leads all national opinion polls, outperforming Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling CDU and the centre-left Social Democrats. This is not the first time the AfD has won a state election in eastern Germany: it claimed victory in the neighboring state of Thuringia in 2024, but failed to cobble together enough support to form a governing administration.
One of the AfD’s most controversial national policies is its so-called “remigration” plan, which critics widely interpret as a call for mass deportations of immigrant communities living in Germany. The party has attempted to soften the rhetoric, framing the policy as targeted only at deporting convicted criminal migrants and people residing in Germany without legal permission.