Triumph of the ultra-right AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: shock for Merz's German government

The state of Saxony-Anhalt voted on Sunday 6 September. The winner was the far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland, with candidate Ulrich Siegmund standing at around 44%, a clear increase compared to 20.8% in 2021 and far ahead of the outgoing minister-president Sven Schulze, of the CDU. "It is a historic and sensational result. We had a clear mandate to govern," said AfD leader Alice Weidel. The significance of this electoral round is not only local but also national: many have considered it a test for the coalition government led by Friedrich Merz since 2025.

The CDU said it was "shaken to its foundations" by the election result. Chancellor Merz described himself as "shocked". But he also said he was not willing to pay the bill for the historic turning point that occurred in Magdeburg, where his party collapsed to 17%. “Giving up is not an option.” "The government will ensure that the Constitution is imposed. I also say this for our European and international partners. We know that Germany has a particular responsibility due to our history. We will maintain political order, and we will remain anchored to Europe", he added.

From the opposite camp, however, AfD leader Alice Weidel attacked him head-on, demanding that he step aside: "The CDU has suffered a debacle, a result that is reflected at the federal level, people have lost confidence. No chancellor before had been as unpopular as Friedrich Merz, who has become a great burden for development in Germany."

The Russian reaction to the AfD's victory also came quickly. “The AfD's historic victory humiliates the arrogance, narrow-mindedness, warmongering, ineptitude and hypocrisy of Germany's discredited governing coalition,” Kirill Dmitriev, presidential special envoy and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, wrote in a post on X.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said Merz showed a "Russophobia that turns into obsession, an obsession with persecution." “The tendency to blame everything on Russia, to blame Russia for everything, is irrational and non-truth-oriented behavior on the part of a state leader, whose actions cause significant harm to his country,” he added.

The leader of FI, Antonio Tajani, however, distances himself from a force "antithetical to liberal and Western values". "A worrying signal, certainly. But also a local, regional vote", the Foreign Minister then underlined in an interview with Il Messaggero. "The vote in Saxony - he added - was widely expected, it was known that the AfD could have a clear success. After all, they reap most of their successes in East Germany".

Then today, in another interview, with Corriere della Sera, he explained: "I want to say this to those in our country who cultivate sovereignist dreams: the German sovereignist is Italy's worst enemy".