Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won key regional elections on Sunday by a landslide with at least 44 per cent of the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, said exit polls by two public broadcasters.
The AfD was far ahead of the centre-right CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, which stood at 18.5 per cent, but it was too early to say whether the far-right party would win an absolute majority, said public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
The anti-immigration AfD is seeking to become the first far-right party to lead a regional government in the country since World War II.
Securing an absolute majority of seats in the state parliament in Magdeburg would allow the AfD to bypass the mainstream parties’ infamous “firewall” against cooperation with the far-right, catapulting the party and its charismatic lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund into power.
Polls have shown the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) – who lead the existing three-party coalition in Saxony-Anhalt – in a distant second place to the AfD, which has benefited from widespread dissatisfaction with Merz’s government in Berlin.
Whether the AfD can secure a governing majority is likely to hinge on whether a trio of left-wing parties – The Left, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens – pass the 5 per cent threshold needed to win seats.