AfD achieves record results in Saxony-Anhalt state election but faces coalition deadlock

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) achieved its best-ever election result in the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, winning well over 40% of the vote and leaving all other parties far behind.

However, the party lacks the majority of seats in parliament needed to govern on its own. Because the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has been classified as "confirmed far-right extremist" by the domestic intelligence agency, other parties announced that cooperation with the AfD was out of the question. This will make forming a government in this eastern German state quite difficult.

On election night, Ulrich Siegmund announced on public broadcaster ARD: "As a democrat, I will reach out to all those who wish to work with us to bring about a fundamental political turnaround." At the same time, he acknowledged that there are currently no political parties that he considers suitable for a coalition government.

Above all, he was referring to the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which currently holds power in coalitions both in Saxony-Anhalt and on the federal level in Germany. Siegmund, along with the entire AfD leadership, has characterized the CDU's policy of refusing to work with the AfD a failure.

On public broadcaster ZDF, AfD party co-leader Alice Weidel sharply criticized the CDU for stonewalling the AfD: "The CDU will not win another election — not a federal election. And this clearly gives the AfD a mandate to govern. Because we are democrats, we do not refuse to work with others."

On election night, Ulrich Siegmund emphasized that implementing the AfD's platform was more important to him than the prospect of power: "There will be no compromise with me." Leading up to the vote, the 35-year-old AfD lead candidate repeatedly stated that he was only interested in governing alone in order to usher in a fundamental political change in Germany.

The AfD's radical governing platform

For months, the AfD's political program has sparked heated debates across Germany. That's because the party wants to drastically tighten asylum and immigration policies. It wants to speed up the deportation of illegal asylum seekers and introduce a general work requirement for all other asylum seekers.

Above all, however, it wants to make Saxony-Anhalt and Germany less attractive to immigrants and is calling for a "180-degree turnaround in migration policy." During its election campaign, the party repeatedly blamed migrants for crime in German cities and for the housing shortage.

What's more, the AfD is planning a radical restructuring of society: it has declared war on public broadcasting, wants to cut funding for democracy projects, intends to establish a kind of vigilante group against migrants and aims to combat social diversity — all of which is laid out in its platform. And Ulrich Siegmund emphasized in an ARD interview that these issues are non-negotiable.

Now, one option involves a minority government led by the AfD, in which it would need to secure support from other parties to advance its policies.

AfD Chairwoman Alice Weidel told ZDF television: "Who ultimately forms the government — perhaps through a tolerance agreement or even a coalition — remains to be seen."

On behalf of the CDU, the party's secretary-general, Franziska Hoppermann, categorically ruled out a coalition: "There will be no cooperation with the far left or the far right."

Could the BSW help the AfD form a government?

The biggest unknown in this power struggle is the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), should it manage to move into the state parliament.

The small party campaigns primarily on a left-wing economic platform and — similar to the AfD — calls for a foreign policy that is more friendly toward Russia. In the past, party founder and former member of the socialist Left Party, Sahra Wagenknecht, has repeatedly expressed openness to substantive cooperation with the AfD. However, for ideological reasons, the party is not considered a particularly attractive partner within AfD circles.

As the AfD celebrated its victory into the night and even before the vote count was complete, some AfD state politicians announced that, if necessary, they intended to remain in the opposition and keep the other parties on the defensive until they could secure a majority of their own.

Take, for example, Oliver Kirchner, co-chair of the AfD caucus in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt: "If we end up behind the lectern as the opposition, it will be brutal for the others," he warned during an AfD livestream.