The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) swept the elections this Sunday in the eastern federal state of Saxony-Anhalt and, although it did not achieve the desired absolute majority to govern alone for the first time in a German region, it obtained a record result that shakes the political landscape of the European country.
With all the votes counted, AfD obtained 43.8% of the votes, leaving it three seats short of an absolute majority.
An elated Ulrich Siegmund, AfD's prime ministerial candidate, said at the party's election party that "tonight is historic."
"We have written history. It is a signal for all of Germany. It is an impulse that runs through the entire country. Of course, we have a government mandate. We will reach out to those who would like to solve with us the problems that have been created in this country," he said.
The co-chair of the force, Alice Weidel, said with a big smile that "with Uli Siegmund we have the prime minister in Germany."
"We will take on the responsibility of governing here in Saxony-Anhalt and also at the federal level," at the latest after the general elections in 2029, added co-president Tino Chrupalla.
AfD demands early elections from Merz
Weidel has called on the German Chancellor, Freidrich Merz, to call early elections immediately and thus promote his replacement "before Christmas" after the party's victory in the regional elections held this Sunday in Saxony-Anhalt.
"I hope that there will be early federal elections and I hope that the current chancellor will be replaced before Christmas," Weidel declared after the "historic" result of the Saxon elections. "We have 44-45% here. It is a clear mandate to govern. We are also going to govern at the federal level," he highlighted.
Weidel has singled out the German political class because "people are fed up with politics being done against the interests of Germany." "We clearly represent the interests of our country," he stated before listing the fundamental measures of his government program: "stop excess spending, control our borders, deport all foreigners, all criminals, we are going to close the border."
He thus considers that in recent years the country has been "ruined", that it is a "catastrophe" and has blamed former Chancellor Angela Merkel and the current president, Merz, for this.
AfD won the elections in the eastern state of Thuringia in 2024, although it did not govern due to the 'cordon sanitaire' of the other parties.
The joy of the AfD leadership is not surprising if one takes into account that in the 2025 federal elections the AfD became the second force at the national level and is currently in first position in national polls.
The disappointment of the Christian Democratic Union
Ulrich Siegmund's AfD has prevailed over the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of regional Prime Minister Sven Schulze, who was disappointed by the result, which has been reduced by half to 17.2% compared to 2021, and acknowledged that his party suffered "a hard blow."
"The winner of the elections, AfD, is now the strongest political force in the regional parliament of Saxony-Anhalt," he admitted, and maintained that now the leadership of the parties in the state, "but also beyond, must face" the result.
AfD leader Alice Weidel has celebrated the "historic" result obtained in the regional elections. "It is a wonderful result for us and it is a task to form a Government," she said, euphorically.
"Our hand is outstretched for a coalition or cooperation," added Weidel, while his colleague at the party leadership, Tino Chrupalla, has suggested that "there may also be a tolerated minority government."
The left is the third force
The Left is the third most voted force, obtaining between 9.2 and 9.3%, while the Greens achieved 8.9%, which sees the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with 8.4 or 8.7%.
SPD co-leader and vice-chancellor Lars Klingbeil noted that "there are people in Saxony-Anhalt and throughout Germany who have major concerns with this result, people who have a migrant background and have worked here for years."
Among the small parties, the FDP liberals, who were part of the coalition government led by Schulze together with the SPD, have not surpassed the 5% barrier, while the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has remained very close to that percentage, between 4.8 and 5%.
Whether or not BSW enters the regional Parliament will be key for the political future of Saxony-Anhalt. The party's candidate, Claudia Wittig, has declared that her party wants to "decide based on content" and carry out projects that are good for the state, "also with the AfD or with other parties." However, when asked whether the BSW would vote for Siegmund as prime minister, he did not want to commit.
According to Ifratest dimap projections, with that party out of Parliament, the AfD would have 41 seats in a regional chamber made up of 83 deputies, while an agreement between the CDU, the SPD, the Greens and the Left could add 42 seats, which would be a majority.
However, the CDU has already said that it does not want to cooperate with The Left. The general secretary of the CDU, Franziska Hoppermann, stated that "serious conversations cannot be held with a party that has a serious problem of anti-Semitism, that wants a model of society completely different from ours and that accuses us of engaging in fascist politics." "In this sense, our red lines are clear: there will be no cooperation with either left-wing extremists or right-wing extremists," he emphasized.
The participation rate has been at record levels, reaching 76.5%. To date, the highest participation in a regional election in Saxony-Anhalt had occurred in 1998, eight years after the Reunification of 1990, when 71.5% of the electoral body appeared at the polls.
Shake up in Berlin
The leader of the Union parliamentary group in the Lower House, Thorsten Frei, considered the AfD's clear victory "a turning point for our country."
"We have never before experienced a situation in which a party classified as 'confirmed right-wing extremist' by the Regional Office for the Protection of the Constitution has obtained a majority," he stressed.
The co-leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which obtained 9.3%, Lars Klingbeil, pointed out that the result "is a reason to also reflect on the policy we do here in Berlin, on the reformist course of the federal government" of the coalition of conservatives and social democrats.
The result implies that there would be a majority beyond the AfD, but its resounding victory makes a stable alliance of several parties unviable in which a conservative party such as the CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and a formation of Marxist origin such as The Left, the fifth force with 8.6%, would have to participate.
The general secretary of the CDU, Franziska Hoppermann, reiterated that "serious conversations cannot be held with a party that has a serious problem of anti-Semitism, wants a model of society completely different from ours and accuses us of engaging in fascist politics."
