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Far-right victory in German state expected to send shockwaves throughout the world

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured a historic win in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday

On Sunday night, voters in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt overwhelmingly chose the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to run their government.

It's a historic victory for a once-fringe populist party that's designated as right-wing extremist by local domestic intelligence agencies in numerous states, including in Saxony-Anhalt, and whose members have come under fire for using Nazi slogans.

Some experts say the win doesn't only signify a deep crisis of established politics in Germany — it sends a message to right-wing populists throughout the world, ahead of numerous regional and federal elections in the European Union, that the political tides are in their favour.

"I'm feeling so excited, and I'm so proud of our team here in Saxony-Anhalt," Alice Weidel, the federal co-leader of the AfD, told CBC News at the election media centre in Magdeburg, the state's capital.

"We have a huge responsibility. Not only in Saxony-Anhalt, but in overall Germany."

AfD win seen as big victory for far right politics in Germany

The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt promises to improve relations with Russia, ban Pride flags in schools and create separate classrooms for refugee children. It calls for "remigration," a term often used in far-right circles to refer to mass deportations of people who come from a migration background.

"No one who is honest and no one who is accepting our laws and no one who is not illegal in Germany has to be scared because of our party," said AfD Saxony-Anhalt chairman Martin Reichardt.

Elon Musk, Trump react to election results

AfD politicians in Saxony-Anhalt have praised U.S. President Donald Trump as a source of inspiration, even using the catchphrase "Make Saxony-Anhalt Great Again" on the campaign trail, an echo of Trump's MAGA movement.

Some in the United States are already responding to Sunday's win with their congratulations.

Elon Musk wrote "Gut gemacht!" (which translates to "well done") in response to Weidel's post on X congratulating Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD candidate to lead Saxony-Anhalt, on his win. Musk previously endorsed the party at a rally in Saxony-Anhalt in 2025.

Trump also posted a screenshot of the preliminary election results to his Truth Social page on Sunday evening.

Siegmund said Germany's success hinges on having more “sensible diplomacy” with other countries such as the U.S. and Russia.

"Momentum is still on the side of the right-wing populists," said Oliver Schmidtke, former director of the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria in B.C.

"I think right-wing populists around the western world, they see it as a sign that the frustration with old parties is very profound."

The win is also an unprecedented blow to the established political system in Germany, according to Marcus Böick, a University of Cambridge professor who studies modern German history.

Voters in rural areas, of which there are many in Saxony-Anhalt, feel neglected by so-called elites in Berlin, he said. This regional vote is a form of protest.

"At the moment it’s quite desperate, the situation," said Böick, who is from Saxony-Anhalt. He said many people living in the former East Germany have grappled with ongoing inequality, unemployment and a lower quality of life compared to states in the west, more than three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"How should you get out of the mess?"

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Voter turnout in Sunday's election was around 78 per cent, according to the state election commissioner, reportedly the highest turnout in Saxony-Anhalt since German reunification in 1990.

The AfD more than doubled its support from Saxony-Anhalt's last election in 2021, but it fell just three seats short of securing an absolute majority.

Far-right AfD wins German state election but falls short of majority

That means the party could still face challenges in forming government or electing Siegmund to head the state, since the German political system is usually governed by a coalition of more than one party.

At a news conference in Berlin on Monday, Siegmund said the AfD will speak with individual parliamentary groups and lawmakers to see if they would support the party in governing Saxony-Anhalt.

"We will, of course, hold discussions to see whether there are — and this is a crucial message today — individual parliamentary groups or individual MPs willing to join us in tackling this historic task," said Siegmund in German.

The win is also already leading to questions for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which after 24 years of governing in Saxony-Anhalt suffered major losses on Sunday. The CDU received just 17.2 per cent of the vote, compared to 37.1 per cent last election.

The centre-right party also leads Germany federally under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is facing widespread unpopularity.

"I predict that the CDU will never again win a federal election," Weidel told reporters in German on Sunday.

Merz said at a news conference in Berlin on Monday that the results of Saxony-Anhalt's election have shaken him personally. He said Germany has a special responsibility to protect its constitution because of its past, and he pledged introducing reforms to improve the country's sluggish economy.

"We cannot simply return to business as usual," said Merz, standing beside the lead candidate for the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt, Sven Schulze.

The CDU and other mainstream political parties have previously kept the AfD out of state power by forming coalition governments by refusing to work with them. The strategy is known as "the firewall" and is meant to safeguard German democracy against threats to the country's postwar liberal values and constitution.

But experts say options for the mainstream political parties to form a coalition that will keep the AfD out of power in Saxony-Anhalt are limited, especially with the party's level of public support.

The AfD also leads national opinion polls at 27 per cent, according to German election research company Infratest-Dimap, and secured the second-highest number of seats in the 2025 federal election.

The AfD is also pitching major overhauls to Germany's current policy toward Russia — and there are reported concerns about the party's ties to the country, because if the AfD holds state power, it could control state-level domestic intelligence services.

Weidel told reporters on Sunday that the AfD party wants to help facilitate peace negotiations amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, but experts say the party takes a clear pro-Russia stance.

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Party lawmakers have reportedly praised and visited the country and called for an end to support for Ukraine; in the Saxony-Anhalt AfD's government manifesto, it states that it has a strong interest in good relations with Russia both "economically and culturally."

Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of Russia's sovereign wealth fund who is considered a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also offered his praise for the AfD party on X.

"AfD will restore Germany and Europe by leading the common-sense approach that migrant-friendly, warmongering Biden-think EU politicians tried to eradicate," wrote Dmitriev, who ended his message depicting shaking hand emojis between the acronyms for Russia, Germany and the United States.

AfD will restore Germany and Europe by leading the common-sense approach that migrant-friendly, warmongering Biden-think EU politicians tried to eradicate. 🇷🇺🤝🇩🇪🤝🇺🇸 https://t.co/CohkKRSxYI

Schmidtke said Putin supports right-wing populist movements throughout the world to sow division and weaken support for democracy.

"I'm sure the champagne was opened at the Kremlin to see a party that has very strong pro-Russian links and doesn't want to support Ukraine anymore," said Schmidtke of Sunday’s election results in Saxony-Anhalt.

"This is a sign that, in a way, the unified front in Europe in support of Ukraine becomes more difficult to sustain."

Merz said Sunday's election results wouldn't change the country's continued support for Ukraine and said there are threats to Germany's internal security.

"I want to make this very clear: 2,500 kilometres east of here, people are especially delighted with this election result," said Merz, in reference to Russia.

It's unclear when a possible coalition government could be announced for Saxony-Anhalt or whether Siegmund will be able to lead the state.

The AfD is also leading the opinion polls in nearby Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, which is having its state election on Sept. 20 alongside Berlin.

Jessica Singer is a CBC reporter and radio producer. She is currently reporting from Saxony-Anhalt, Germany as the 2026 recipient of the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter bursary. She has worked for the CBC from Toronto, London, Ont. and St. John's, N.L. She was a 2025 FASPE fellow and a 2021 Joan Donaldson CBC News Scholar. You can reach her at jessica.singer@cbc.ca