A single mandate separates the radical right AFD from a majority of its own in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. When the polling station survey came at 6 p.m., the party received 39 out of 83 mandates with 44.5 percent of the vote.
The share could be enough for a majority of its own, provided that smaller parties miss the five percent barrier that prevails in German parliaments.
- We have written history in this country. The people have spoken clearly. We need a fundamental change of course in this country, says regional party chairman Ulrich Siegmund to ARD.
The other parties have ruled out a direct collaboration with AFD, which has responded in kind. Siegmund has said that anything short of an own majority will cause the party to go into opposition again.
When the votes are counted, all eyes are on BSW (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht), who with a narrow margin clears the barrier with 5 percent. The party has said it wants to talk to all parties and at the same time wants to oust the current government led by the Christian Democrats.
- We say as we have done, we can cooperate with all parties on certain issues, replies the party's top candidate, Claudia Wittig. on the question of whether the party can cooperate with AFD.
Perhaps the polling station survey's biggest losers are the Christian Democrats, who currently lead the government. During the state election in 2021, the party received 37 percent of the vote, now it looks like it will stay at just over 18 percent.
- We live in a democracy and therefore I want to congratulate the election winner, AFD, which is now the largest party in Saxony-Anhalt. We as Christian Democrats will handle the election results, says regional party chairman Sven Schultze, who is currently still the state's head of government.
- I have people who say that this is a dark day for Germany. My answer is that this is democracy. We have had a high turnout.
AFD leader Ulrich Siegmund answers in ARD's studio the question whether he can imagine cooperating with the Christian Democrats.
- I am prepared to talk to parties that are involved in this change of course, but I don't see that right now.
- We have areas that are not negotiable. It is migration and security.
The left party also gets a lower result than expected. In the opinion polls, the party was at 11 percent, in the polling station survey it was 9 percent. The party representative, Eva von Angern, laments the success of the right-wing radicals.
- It is a dark day for Germany.
Saxony-Anhalt is one of five former GDR states that joined Germany after reunification in 1991. During the dismantling of the planned economy, many jobs in the region disappeared and today the state is the poorest in Germany in terms of GDP per capita.
Critics believe that the state election in Saxony-Anhalt should serve as a test bed for later taking power in the whole of Germany.
- How far can one really go to run over the written - and perhaps even more importantly the unwritten - rules for the democratic culture in a state? says David Begrich of the organization Miteinander, whose stated purpose is to counter right-wing extremism in Saxony-Anhalt, to DW.
If the AFD gets the government job in Saxony-Anhalt, the party has promised a regional re-migration campaign, separate classes for refugees and a ban on rainbow flags in schools. Siegmund has also said that history teaching in schools should focus more on Germany's founder Otto von Bismarck than Adolf Hitler.
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