Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a landslide victory in a key regional election on Sunday in the ex-communist east, according to exit polls, but it remains unclear whether it can win an absolute majority to govern.
“We have made history today,” said a jubilant Ulrich Siegmund, the 35-year-old lead candidate of the anti-immigration AfD in Saxony-Anhalt state, as the vote count continued.
The AfD won at least 44 per cent, more than doubling its support, and far ahead of the 18.5 per cent for the centre-right CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to projections by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
The CDU’s state premier Sven Schulze called the outcome “a severe blow” but – depending on the final count and the fate of smaller parties – may still try to cobble together a multiparty coalition to cling to power.
All major parties have agreed on a “firewall” of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose state branch is categorised as “right-wing extremist” by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.
The AfD’s national co-leader Alice Weidel – who has long condemned the “firewall” concept as undemocratic – praised her party’s result as “sensational” and said that “we have received a very clear mandate to govern here”.