Merkel expresses her shock at the results of the Saxony-Anhalt elections and the repercussions of the rise of the AfD

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her deep shock at the success achieved by the Alternative for Germany party in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament elections that took place the day before yesterday, Sunday.

During the "Digital

Merkel, who held the position of chancellor from 2005 to 2021, said, "My heart bleeds as a member of the Christian Democratic Party; this is a turning point, a real turning point that we are experiencing in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany."

It is noteworthy that Merkel's party, which leads the outgoing Saxony-Anhalt government, suffered a severe defeat in these elections, as it obtained only 17.2 percent of the votes, compared to the 37.1 percent it obtained in the version of the elections that took place five years ago. Thus, the Christian party came in second place by a large margin after the Alternative for Germany party, which topped these elections with 43.8 percent of the voters’ votes. With this result, the number of members of the Christian Party’s parliamentary bloc in the state parliament decreased from 40 to 15 deputies.

Merkel called for a new approach to communication to ensure better access to citizens and to better explain the progress achieved. She added that "direct communication with citizens at the individual level" has likely become more important than it was before, and she believed that democratic parties should strive more seriously to enhance direct communication with citizens.

Merkel expressed her concern about the decline in the value of facts among a wide segment of citizens, in contrast to the dominance of being led by emotional flows. In this regard, she cited documented factual data confirming low unemployment rates and high levels of individual well-being in Saxony-Anhalt, saying: “Then the main candidate of the AfD, Ulrich Zigmund, comes and says: This may be true, but people do not feel it.”

Merkel stressed the necessity of not allowing such an approach to be spread to gain the support of the majority, and said that “collective agreement on the facts was one of the achievements of the Enlightenment. She warned that if feelings became the supreme authority, and facts were no longer appreciated as the most important matter, then this heralds the occurrence of civilizational setbacks.”

The Alternative for Germany party was founded in 2013 as an opponent of the European Union, but it quickly shifted its focus to attacking Merkel's open-door policy for refugees and immigrants.

The co-chair of the German Sarah Wagenknecht Party, Amira Muhammad Ali, believes that there are few points of agreement between her party and the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party. Muhammad Ali said in statements to the VDR 5 radio station today, Tuesday (September 8, 2026), that the party is still calling for a non-partisan prime minister for the state of Saxony-Anhalt, adding that there is no party in the state that has a majority, which means that one of the party’s candidates assuming the position of head of the state government “will lead to deepening the divisions in society even more.”

In response to a question about the possibility of cooperation with the Alternative for Germany party, Muhammad Ali said: “Well, I honestly think that it will not be possible to pass many of our demands then, because the points of agreement are already few.” The politician, of Egyptian descent, indicated that the energy issue is one of the few points of agreement with the Alternative for Germany, explaining that her party wants to push in Saxony-Anhalt an initiative in the Council of States in order to provide affordable energy, stressing that Sarah Wagenknecht's party "will continue its approach, and neither Sven Schulze (from the Christian Democratic Party) nor Ulrich Zigmund (from the Alternative for Germany) will be elected as head of the state government. She said: "We will do after the elections what we said before the elections.”

Meanwhile, the "Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance" party in Saxony-Anhalt confirmed its readiness to abstain from voting in a third round of the election of the head of government in the state parliament, if the main AfD candidate Siegmund stands for election.

Nearly half of Germans oppose the formation of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the state of Saxony-Anhalt with the support of other parties, despite its decisive victory in the regional elections that took place in the state the day before Sunday. According to a poll conducted by the YouGov Institute to measure opinion indicators, 36 percent of participants said that the AfD should “under no circumstances” form a government with the support of other parties, while another 11 percent said that they “tend to reject” the idea.

On the other hand, 20 percent of Germans said that the Alternative for Germany party should "definitely" form a government with the support of other parties, while 18 percent showed a "tendency to support" this.

About four out of ten participants also said that the CDU's exclusion of cooperation with the AfD in general was wrong, with 24 percent saying it was "completely wrong" and 16 percent saying it was "somewhat wrong." On the other hand, 31 percent said that the Christian Democratic Party’s position was “completely correct,” while 15 percent said it was “somewhat correct.”

The survey included 1,862 people over 18 years old on September 7, 2026.

Several thousand people came out at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Monday evening (September 7, 2026) in a movement against the Alternative for Germany party, led by the parliamentary elections in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The police estimated the number of crowds at about 5,000 demonstrators, noting that the demonstration passed without incident, while the number of participants was estimated at about 14,000 people, according to the organizers.

The demonstrators carried banners with slogans including “Fascism is not an alternative” and “Stop the AfD Nazis! End racism and social cuts,” while the crowds chanted: “All against fascism!”

Protesters held the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz responsible, considering that it had failed to contain the state of popular discontent.

After the initial estimates of the election results appeared on Sunday evening, the city of Frankfurt and the German capital, Berlin, witnessed protests in which thousands of people participated, who raised slogans demanding “banning the Alternative Party.”

The AfD's victory is seen as a "political earthquake" in the country.

The party topped the elections that took place yesterday, Sunday, by a large margin, but failed to achieve an absolute majority, which leaves the door open to the possibility of forming the first state government led by the Alternative for Germany party, which is classified in some states as decidedly far-right.

The "Alternative" inflicted a resounding electoral defeat on the Christian Democratic Union party led by Meretz, winning 43.8 percent of the votes in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, which has a population of about 2.1 million people and is located in the east of the country and faces economic difficulties.

Earlier today, Meretz expressed his "deep shock" after the heavy defeat suffered by his conservative party in the local elections, but he pledged to move forward with reforms.

Germany is witnessing two other local elections on September 20, in Berlin and the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, located in the east of the country.

Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, expressed his concern about the victory of the Alternative for Germany party in the Saxony-Anhalt state elections, stressing that "Germany needs a wall of isolation on all fronts against anti-Semitism."

In statements to the German "Funke" media group, on Monday, the Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, said: "The Saxony-Anhalt elections that took place over the weekend should raise concern for everyone concerned about the future of Jewish life in Germany. Only 80 years after the Holocaust, a party whose leaders described the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as a 'monument to shame' achieved record gains."

The Israeli diplomat added that anti-Semitism is a dangerous path that should not be tolerated, and he believed that “Germany needs a wall of isolation on all fronts against anti-Semitism, so that the matter is not limited to expressions of condemnation only, but extends to become tangible actions.”

In 2017, the politician in the Alternative Party, Björn Höcke, sparked widespread controversy during a speech he gave in the city of Dresden, when he called for a “180-degree shift in the policy of dealing with historical memory.” He also said, referring to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin: “We Germans, that is, our people, are the only people in the world who have erected a monument to shame in the heart of their capital.”

The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said yesterday, “I was personally astonished by the results of these elections,” in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.