Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) finished first in Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt, according to preliminary official results, but did not win enough seats to govern alone.
The state election authority reported that the AfD received 43.8 percent of the vote and 39 seats in the 83-seat Landtag. An absolute majority requires 42 seats. The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which had led the state government, received 17.2 percent and 15 seats. The Social Democrats received 9.3 percent, the Greens 8.9 percent, The Left 8.6 percent, and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance 5.3 percent. The Free Democrats received 2.6 percent and did not enter parliament. Turnout was 77.8 percent, the highest in the state since German reunification.
The AfD more than doubled its 20.8 percent share from the 2021 state election. The CDU’s share fell from 37.1 percent in that vote. AfD state lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund said the result was a mandate to govern. CDU state premier Sven Schulze said his party no longer had a governing mandate of its own.
Mainstream parties in Germany have maintained a policy of not forming coalitions with the AfD. The Saxony-Anhalt domestic intelligence service classifies the state AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization. The previous CDU-led coalition cannot continue in the same form after the Free Democrats fell below the 5 percent threshold.
Siegmund said he did not intend to lead a minority government and raised the possibility of new elections if no arrangement could be reached. Other parties that entered the Landtag together hold 44 seats. No coalition agreement had been announced as of Monday.
The vote was the first of several German regional elections scheduled this autumn. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU also governs at the federal level.
SOURCES: Reuters, dpa, tagesschau, BBC, official preliminary results from the Saxony-Anhalt election authority.
