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Esme Nicholson
AfD supporters celebrate with a sign featuring top candidate Ulrich Siegmund after the first results of the Saxony-Anhalt state election at the party's election night gathering in Magdeburg, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. Matthias Schrader/AP hide caption
BERLIN — Germany's populist, far-right Alternative for Germany party has declared victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt after more than doubling its share of the vote in the first of several regional elections this fall.
Falling just shy of an absolute majority, it's not yet clear whether the AfD will be able to govern the state of Saxony-Anhalt. But the outcome is already causing a political earthquake.
According to preliminary final results, the AfD won 43.8% of the vote — its strongest performance in any German state election, which puts the far-right party within reach of power for the first time since the time of Nazi Germany.
The center-right Christian Democratic Union more than halved its share of the vote, falling to a historic low of 17.2%. The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) received 9.3%, the Greens 8.9%, and the Left party 8.6%.
All of these parties refuse to form a coalition with the AfD. But the AfD can come to power with the help of BSW, a small, anti-immigration, left-wing populist party. BSW got 5.3% of the vote on Sunday, potentially giving it enough seats to form a parliamentary majority with the AfD — something the party has not ruled out.
AfD's candidate for state governor, Ulrich Siegmund, said the result "sends a very clear signal to Berlin: this is the end of the line; people don't want to go on like this." "They want their good, old, secure Germany back," Siegmund told German public broadcaster, ARD.
Christian Democrat candidate Sven Schulze took to the stage on Sunday evening to congratulate the AfD on its win. While polls had shown the AfD with a comfortable lead for weeks, the CDU fared worse than predicted.
Whether Schulze will attempt to cobble together a "firewall" coalition — a platform by Germany's main political parties to keep the AfD out of government — is unclear. Such a strategy would require the Christian Democrats and others to work with the far-left party, Die Linke — something the conservatives refuse to do.
Addressing supporters, Schulze sounded resigned.
"Some say this is a dark day for Saxony-Anhalt. I say this is democracy," he said.
Alice Weidel, co-chair of AfD at the federal level, told public broadcaster ZDF that the CDU will never win another election. She said the AfD is seeing "explosive growth" across the country.
In Saxony-Anhalt, that growth is down to 35-year-old Siegmund, a former marketing executive and a salesman who, observers say, showed a knack for packaging his party's policies in positive slogans and pop-star-like appearances at campaign events and on TikTok.
His personable and amiable style is uncharacteristically upbeat for the AfD and he distinguishes himself from others in the party for being more happy-go-lucky than angry.
Germany's domestic intelligence classifies the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt as extremist. Its regional platform is the party's most radical and is seen by the AfD as a blueprint for the rest of Germany.
If Siegmund ends up as state governor, he will be privy to foreign and domestic intelligence, which is a major concern for the other parties considering the AfD's push to revive relations with Russia. Several state interior ministers from Germany's other 15 states say they are already preparing to meet separately.
At the top of their platform agenda is what the AfD calls its "remigration" policy, which promises mass deportations. Speaking to public broadcaster ARD on Sunday night, Siegmund spelled out the policy in more detail.
"Remigration is far more than just deportation," he said, adding that "remigration applies to anyone who does not contribute to society." He included Ukrainian refugees without jobs.
The AfD also wants to segregate refugees and disabled children in schools and revamp the curriculum to focus on what it refers to as a "more positive" teaching of Germany's history.
After the results, Siegmund declared: "We have made history in this country."
"This isn't just about Saxony-Anhalt," he told supporters, "It's a signal for the whole of Germany - a self-confident signal."
On Sunday evening, President Trump posted a screenshot of the projected election results on Truth Social. Trump's post was shared by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who described the result as a "historic win."
The AfD has called for an end to support for Ukraine and seeking to revoke the refugee protections currently granted to Ukrainians.
Also among those hailing AfD's success was Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In response, Siegmund thanked Musk for his "support" and "clear and highly important perspective on the political developments of our time."
But neighboring Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took a very different view, posting on X that "in Poland, only idiots or traitors can rejoice at the triumph of the AfD in Germany."
France's Europe minister, Benjamin Haddad, described the election results as a "grave moment in Europe."
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