(Berlin = Yonhap News) Correspondent Gye-yeon Kim = The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a landslide victory with over 40% of the vote in the parliamentary election in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt held on the 6th (local time). However, it failed to secure a majority of seats, so it is unclear whether it will succeed in taking power in the state government for the first time since its founding.
According to the Saxony-Anhalt State Election Commission, the AfD won 43.8% of the votes and became the largest party, beating the centrist conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU, 17.2%). The moderate Progressive Social Democratic Party (SPD) won 9.3%, the Green Party 8.9%, and the Left Party 8.6%.
The radical left-wing Saarwagenknecht (BSW), a successor to the old Communist Party, achieved 5.3%, exceeding the 5% minimum standard for seat distribution. The pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) failed to enter the National Assembly with 2.6% of the vote.
AfD's vote share this time was more than double the 20.8% recorded in the previous 2021 Saxony-Anhalt state legislative election. This is the highest vote percentage since the founding of the party in both state and federal elections. Ulrich Siegmund, a candidate for Saxony-Anhalt's chancellor, said he "made history" and that the election results "are also a signal to Berlin."
However, it is unclear whether the AfD will come to power as it failed to secure a majority of seats. AfD secured 39 of the 83 seats, the CDU secured 15 seats, the SPD, Green Party, and Left Party each secured 8 seats, and BSW secured 5 seats.
For this reason, BSW, which announced its intention to cooperate with the AfD, unlike other parties such as the CDU, which advocates the so-called 'firewall' principle, emerged as a 'kingmaker'. BSW, the successor to the former East German Communist Party, agrees with AfD on hard-line immigration and appeasement policies toward Russia, and is negative about other parties' firewall principle of not cooperating with far-right parties.
It is unclear whether a coalition between the two extreme left and right parties will ultimately be achieved. AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Krupala said they were open to coalition talks. On the other hand, candidate Siegmund's position is that he will only take power if he can establish a stable independent government, so opinions are divided even within the party. BSW co-chair Amira Mohamed Ali is calling for a 'bipartisan' prime minister to be elected instead of Zigmund.
Local media reports that there is a high possibility that a minority government will be formed with less than half of the total number of seats. AfD can form a minority government and seek cooperation from other parties on a case-by-case basis. The CDU may take the lead and form an 'anti-AfD' minority government. However, the CDU's stance is that it will not cooperate with BSW or the left-wing parties at the center party level, so the possibility is low.
The former East German states are unable to form a stable government because they exclude the AfD, which has significantly increased its number of seats in recent years. The states of Saxony and Thuringia are already operating as minority governments led by the CDU.
If the coalition government and election of a prime minister fail, the parliament may be dissolved and elections may be held again. After the exit poll results were announced the previous day, Siegmund expressed his regrets about ruling alone with a majority, saying, "If we hold another election, we could get 50% or 55%."
The AfD promised to ▲ deport illegal immigrants ▲ impose work obligations on asylum seekers ▲ reduce support for Ukrainian refugees ▲ strengthen patriotic education such as raising the German flag ▲ reduce support for public broadcasting. They also made promises that may be unconstitutional, such as creating a 'voluntary citizen patrol' to maintain public order and separating classes for students from refugee families.
Candidate Siegmund, 35 years old this year, has emerged as a key figure in the AfD, leading this election by storm and ranking first in national approval ratings. He, who was once a member of the CDU party, is credited with captivating the younger generation through social media and the older generation with his relatively neat and friendly appearance. Within the party, she is praised as ‘everyone’s sweetheart’ and ‘the type that would be loved by her mother-in-law.’
However, he attended a meeting on the mass deportation of immigrants by German-speaking far-right forces, which sparked discussions about disbanding the AfD party in 2023, and his aides are embroiled in controversy over their membership in a neo-Nazi group whose activities were banned by the Constitutional Court. Weekly magazine Der Spiegel called him 'Germany's most dangerous man'.
Saxony-Anhalt has a population of 2.12 million and 1.69 million voters, making it the 6th smallest state among Germany's 16 states by population. The AfD has used the former East German regions, including Saxony-Anhalt, which are economically behind West Germany and have a small immigrant population, as its home turf. The AfD, which advocates hard-line policies on immigration and strengthening German national identity, has produced several mayors of small municipalities since its founding in 2013, but has never held power in a state government.
This election attracted attention because of the possibility that a far-right local government would be established in Germany for the first time in 80 years since the fall of the Nazis. Voter turnout was recorded at 77.8%, the highest among Saxony-Anhalt state legislative elections since the unification of East and West Germany. The voter turnout during the 2021 state legislative election was 60.3%. A state assembly election is scheduled for the 20th of this month in the former East German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the AfD receives nearly 40% of support.
