On September 6th 2026 the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. This was the first of three regional elections in eastern Germany – Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin have followed on 20th September. What happened in Saxony-Anhalt and what does that tell us about the general political and societal current in Germany?
Contextualisation
Saxony-Anhalt is a small region (Bundesland) in eastern Germany. It has one of the oldest German populations and it is home to 2.14 million people, including 1.7 million eligible voters. Low-income rates and a constantly ageing population that can’t even be sustained by migration mark the region. According to figures by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, at the end of 2025 about 193,000 migrants lived in Saxony-Anhalt. Up until now, a coalition of CDU, FDP and SPD governed Saxony-Anhalt with Sven Schulze (CDU) as their Minister-President. He took over from Rainer Haseloff (CDU) at the beginning of this year.
The Campaign
The election campaigns of the individual parties can be summed up in two words: polarising and emotional. Topics such as migration, values, what it means to be German, social security and economic decline featured highly. Whilst the AfD focused on nostalgia for the erstwhile German Democratic Republic (GDR), family, security and national pride, other established parties called for the preservation of democracy.
Social media, in particular, played a major role in helping parties reach out to the public. This, however, was achieved primarily only by the AfD, the Greens and The Left. The AfD was especially successful in reaching young voters via TikTok. Even though other parties like the Left also have their political TikTok stars (Heidi Reichenek) the AfD has two advantages over established, central parties: it has been active on social media for a long time and it has many accounts, therefore enabling it to have a broad outreach. It is not just political actors that post and share content for AfD but their “fans” and voters as well. They slightly alter right-wing content so as to not be banned by TikTok for posting the same video twice and like that create a broader outreach.
Appearances at family festivals featuring barbecues and bouncy castles helped the AfD to present an image of harmony. This enabled many people to forget the party’s established reputation as far-right. With a young, charismatic lead candidate, the party was able to win people over and polarise opinion. Ulrich was able to present himself as the complete opposite of Schulze. Whereas the CDU candidate was down to earth and wanted to appear volksnah (down to earth and close to the common people), the AfD candidate appeared as a “perfectly staged salesman“. He knows how to sell the image of his perfectly sheltered childhood in the village of Tangermünde as the vision of how Saxony-Anhalt will look like under an AfD led government.
The centrist CDU, by contrast, failed to make much of an impression during the election campaign. Whereas former Minister-President Haseloff created the image of “father” of the state during his time in office it was clear that Schulze was not capable to do the same in only six-months time.
All this was further exacerbated by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was barely active during the campaign. His appearances were kept brief and he was scarcely mentioned giving the impression that he was trying to hide. This was not least due to a loss of credibility within the party itself given the negative poll ratings of the party as well as its staff.
According to a survey published by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen that analysed how satisified the people are with politics and politicians, Chancellor Friedrich Merz scored -2.8 and the CDU a -0.7 (on a scale of +5 to -5). The SPD got -1.1 in the survey while Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil scored -1.7. The same survey found that 83% of all people asked said that they feel like the federal coalition government and “those up there” do not care about them.
Wherever the AfD was present and active on the ground, other established parties were physically also there, but unable to inspire people to the same extent. News channel ZDF said that “the AfD has filled the spaces where the parties of the democratic centre were no longer present”.
In their August 14 edition, newsmagazine Der Spiegel wrote “AfD leading politician Ulrich Siegmund wants to smile his way to power in Saxony-Anhalt. Behind him lies a far-right network and staff who even frighten the party leadership itself”. On its covers the magazine printed a picture of Siegmund and the words “most dangerous man of Germany”. The AfD’s lead candidate himself made fun of the cover which turned into a PR tool for the AfD campaign, and AfD supporters bought copies and had Siegmund sign them at campaign events and talks. Voices from other established parties described this cover as a “campaign gift for the AfD”.
“Democracy has been put under pressure” – Andreas Postel, ZDF
The Election
Already in the weeks leading up to September 6th reports and surveys showed AfD as the projected winner. The party got 43.8% of votes cast, which is 23 points more than in the last elections in 2021. The far-right party thus is strongest party in the regional parliament with 39 seats, falling 3 seats short of the 42-seat absolute majority. The CDU, with their prime candidate Sven Schulze got 17.2%, which is 19.9 points less than during the last elections. Having shrunk to 15 from 40 seats the party is the clear loser of the election. This is their worst result in Saxony-Anhalt ever. Since 2002, the Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt was always from the CDU, ever since the German reunification the region was a CDU stronghold. This makes the present election results even more concerning leading to demands for Schulze – and Merz – to immediately resign.
SPD gained 0.9% from the last elections to a solid 9.3% now. The Green party was able to achieve their best election outcome in Saxony-Anhalt elections so far with 8.9%. This represents a 3% jump. The Left party lost 2.4% to be at 8.6%, just like the FDP lost 3.8% to now be at 2.6%. This means that the FDP will no longer enter the regional parliament, as it failed to meet the minimum of 5% threshold required. The 2024 established Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW) achieved 5.3% of votes which equals to 5 seats, making them an important strategic actor.
What will happen now
AfD is the clear winner of the election. Alice Weidel, leader of the AfD party, declared that the result meant a clear mandate for governing for the party – both in Saxony-Anhalt and federally. However, the extremist party does not hold an absolute majority. They need three more seats to have their lead candidate, Siegmund, elected Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt. There are different scenarios that are more or less likely to take place.
Firstly, AfD could lead a minority government. Before the elections, Siegmund said he was not going to do that. However, he changed his stance on the matter. He would, however, need defectors from other parties to vote him in as leader of the government.
Secondly, the AfD could enter a coalition with the BSW. This, however, is unlikely as Siegmund has repeatedly said that the BSW is not “part of the solution”.
A third possibility is that all other parties – CDU, SPD, the Greens and the Left – enter a coalition with the BSW so as to prevent an AfD led government. A CDU-led coalition would then govern Saxony-Anhalt. This is rather unlikely as well, as the CDU then would be dependent on support from the left. Before the elections, the party declared that it would not enter a coalition with either the left or the right.
As of now it is likely that the current government will continue its work until a new one has been formed. The rules are that a regional parliament must convene 30 days after the election took place. However, there is no fixed deadline for when its first ballot electing the regional prime minister has to be held. The potential candidate then needs to secure an absolute majority (over 50% of votes) in the first round of voting. Should this not be achieved there will be a second vote seven days later. After another failure to elect a leader, parliament can decide to either dissolve itself and hold new elections or to have another ballot where only a simple majority (whoever has the most votes, no need for scoring higher than 50%) then is necessary.
Siegmund on the eve of election day already said in an interview, that he is not opposed to new elections as they would mean a win of 50 to 55% for the AfD.
“It is democracy. We have a result that has hit us, me personally very hard… many people who did not vote last time have gone to the polls and appear to have voted for the AfD. The AfD has achieved this” – Sven Schulze, lead candidate for the CDU
Reactions to AfD’s Victory
Reactions have been different from the political spectrum – abroad and domestically. After the results were announced AfD lead candidate declared that “we have made history” and the extremist party was celebrating their victory. Reactions from established democratic parties reached from CDU lead candidate admitting defeat to Thorsten Frei (CDU) explaining that having a right-wing extremist party win an election is unprecedented in post-war history. Eva von Angern, lead candidate of the Left, described Spetember 6th as a black day for Saxony-Anhalt.
There has been new wind for the question of banning AfD as well. Hendrick Wüst (CDU), Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia as well as other politicians have publicly demanded a commission be established to verify the legality of such a process.
President Donald Trump publicly congratulated the AfD and posted on his Truth Social account that “Populist Party in Germany just had a really big night. (…) They are on the rise and not going to take it anymore. MGGA”. This resulted in outrage from the federal German government, and it responded to Trump, saying “we do not need tips from the White House”. Elon Musk, meanwhile, posted a “well done” on his X, having already supported the far-right party during the 2025 general elections.
However, much of the international media has been extremely wary and critical of these outcomes. As an article in the FT suggests, there is a fear in Europe that with this election, Germany’s position as a bulwark against Russia will break down. Social media has been flooded with posts describing a dangerous historical return of the far-right in Germany.
The Election Outcome and the General Political Current in Germany
On September 20th elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin took place. In Berlin all established centrist and centre-left parties – SPD, CDU, the Greens – lost votes, whereas the Left and AfD were able to win votes. The preliminary results place the Left at the top with 25.7% of the votes, followed by CDU with 18.8% of the votes and AfD with 16.2%.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, however, the AfD won the elections with 38.1% of the votes, before the SPD with 35.5%. The CDU was defeated by the 5% threshold and will not be a part of the new Parliament in that region. This represents the worst election result of the party in its entire history. It is unlikely that there will be an AfD Minister-President in Mecklenburg as, just like in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD is lacking coalition partners.
Therefore, explaining the victory of AfD simply by blaming the well-known east-west divide would be too simplistic. Reasons for AfD’s win are varied and diverse, reaching from general unhappiness to true believers of needing to reshape Germany. One of the biggest results of the election is that federal politics is not delivering and not reaching the people.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau, Hendrick Lange, head of the Left party in Saxony-Anhalt, blames the CDU’s austerity policies for people’s anger. He said that “We can also see in Saxony-Anhalt that the CDU is only willing to improve people’s lives in a few areas”. The AfD knows how to capitalise on this dissatisfaction. A graph published by Focus magazine shows the CDU’s voter migration. The party has lost 140.000 of its core voters in this election, of which 82.000 now voted the AfD as a result.
The CDU and its federal political agenda are thus partially to blame for the rise of the AfD. Established parties did not manage to convince people that they are delivering for them. Recent surveys show that the AfD is seen to be more competent than other democratic parties, even in areas such as economic politics that were not seen to be the AfD’s strong suit.
Reactions From the People Who Voted Against the AfD
The news is full of election analysis of the AfD’s victory and what this means for the parties that lost out. But this means that the 56% who did not vote for the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt are forgotten. In the state, the AfD has been classified as “right-wing extremist” since 2023. Since 2021 there have been official investigations against the AfD Saxony-Anhalt and since then the party has further radicalised.
The news channel Tagesschau describes summarises that the AfD holds positions that “that are not compatible with human dignity, democracy, and the rule of law“. In its party manfiesto one can find homophobic demands like “only traditional family and role images” on page 17 and polarising phrases like “If we’re not happy with drag queens making gender transitions appealing to our kids, they call us ‘homophobic’ ” on page 3. Party officials share islamophobic and racists views as the Focus magazine explains: “explicitly excluding Muslims because of their religious affiliation as criminals and unwanted, second-class people who cannot be integrated”.
This explains why people from minority groups are not the only ones scared of what this AfD victory will mean for them. The newspaper Die Zeit reports that People are moving and leaving Saxony-Anhalt because they are scared of what will happen, do not want to raise their children in such an environment, or fear for their security. However, there are some that want to stay and not let the AfD win. Some queer people in Saxony-Anhalt’s capital Magdeburg want to stay and not let the AfD erase their identities.
Surveys reflect this sentiment. When asked on September 7th whether they would rather see an AfD or CDU candidate as leader of the regional government, 41% responded it should be an AfD candidate and 46% said it should be the CDU. Supporters of an AfD candidate were mostly AfD voters yet supporters of a CDU candidate came from across the political spectrum, notably from the SPD, Greens and the Left. This suggests that in the face of an AfD government people tend to forget their political differences and stand as one against the extremist forces.
People still go on the street in all of Germany protesting against the AfD and standing side by side for democracy, freedom and security. But there is foremost a feeling of consternation and defeat, of feeling unwelcome in one’s own home. A feeling of sadness and disbelief.
After the recent elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it remains to be seen what consequences the federal government takes in from the overwhelmingly crushing results for the CDU and the losses experienced by the SDP outside Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
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