Far-right wins 43.8% in German state election

The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election on Sept. 6, according to preliminary official results published by the state election authority. The result gave the party 39 seats in the 83-member Landtag, leaving it three seats short of an outright majority. (wahlergebnisse.sachsen-anhalt.de) Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats, or CDU, fell to 17.2%, according to the same preliminary tally. The vote was the first state election in Germany in which AfD finished first. The outcome matters because Saxony-Anhalt is one of Germany’s 16 federal states and because no mainstream party has so far agreed to govern with AfD. (apnews.com) That refusal is commonly described in German politics as a “firewall” against cooperation with the anti-immigrant, far-right party. On Monday, AfD leaders publicly appealed to conservative lawmakers to back its claim to govern, while Merz ruled out cooperation. ### Which election produced the 43.8% figure? Saxony-Anhalt held its state parliamentary election on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. The official state election portal said the preliminary seat distribution was posted at 03:21 on Sept. 7 by the Statistisches Landesamt Sachsen-Anhalt, and the state election authority said the vote was for the Landtag election held on Sept. 6. (wahlergebnisse.sachsen-anhalt.de) The preliminary official result put AfD first with 43.8% of the vote. PolitPro’s compilation of the final official result also lists AfD on 43.8% and turnout at 77.8%, matching the official election portal’s overall result. (apnews.com) ### Who led the AfD campaign in Saxony-Anhalt? Ulrich Siegmund was AfD’s top candidate in Saxony-Anhalt. Reuters photographs and reporting from Berlin on Sept. 7 showed Siegmund appearing with AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla the day after the election. Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla used a Berlin news conference to press their case that other parties should stop excluding AfD from government. (wahlergebnisse.sachsen-anhalt.de) Reuters reported that AfD appealed to lawmakers from Merz’s conservatives to support its bid to rule the state after the election result. (politpro.eu) ### How far ahead was AfD of the other parties? The preliminary result put CDU in second place on 17.2%, more than 26 percentage points behind AfD. Anadolu, citing preliminary official results, reported the Social Democrats on 9.3%, the Greens on 8.9%, the Left on 8.6% and the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht, or BSW, on 5.3%, while the Free Democrats failed to clear the 5% threshold. (usnews.com) The 83-seat chamber left AfD short of solo control despite its margin in the vote. AP reported that the party’s win still did not break the barrier that has kept it out of any state or federal government since its founding 13 years ago. (usnews.com) ### Why can’t the winner simply take power? Germany’s state governments are formed through parliamentary majorities, not by direct election of a governor. AP said AfD has never been part of any state or federal government because other parties have refused to cooperate with it. Friedrich Merz said on Monday that his party would not work with AfD, according to Reuters. (aa.com.tr) That leaves the question of whether other parties in the Magdeburg parliament can assemble a majority without AfD, or whether a minority arrangement or fresh political bargaining will follow. (wahlergebnisse.sachsen-anhalt.de) ### What happens next in Magdeburg and Berlin? Magdeburg is where coalition arithmetic now matters most because the new Landtag must produce a governing majority. Reuters reported that AfD on Monday sought support from conservative lawmakers, while Merz rejected cooperation. (apnews.com) Berlin will also watch the next steps because Saxony-Anhalt was the first of several German regional elections this fall, NPR reported on Sept. 6. The state election authority’s preliminary results are already public, and the next phase is negotiations among the parties that won seats in the Landtag. (npr.org) (usnews.com) (whbl.com)