Alternative for Germany party set for regional election triumph and could form the country’s first far-right state government since World War II

The far-right Alternative for Germany was projected to win a strong victory in a regional election Sunday, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether it would be able to fulfill its ambition of forming the country’s first far-right state government since World War II.

The party of German’s unpopular leader, Chancellor Friedrich Merz , was set for a disastrous result in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The anti-migration and Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany’s candidate for governor said that “we have written history.” Ulrich Siegmund, 35, told public broadcaster ARD that voters had sent a signal that “things cannot carry on like this” and that it was “also a signal toward Berlin.” Of Germany’s unpopular leader, he said: “A very good campaigner for us in this election campaign was Friedrich Merz.

Every day this man is in the chancellery is one too many.” AfD wanted to govern on its own Alternative for Germany, or AfD, went into the vote seeking an absolute majority in the state legislature to govern on its own.

That would overcome the so-called firewall of mainstream parties’ refusal to work with AfD, but it was unclear long after polls closed whether it would happen.

A first state government would be the biggest prize in the anti-migration party’s 13-year history, at a time of widespread discontent with a national government that has yet to persuade voters that it can get the country’s sluggish economy moving.

Whether or not AfD can form a government, the projected result is a blow to Merz, whose center-right party has led Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years.

Unlike other countries in Europe, modern Germany hasn’t yet had a far-right or right-wing populist party leading a national, state or major-city government.

AfD is the biggest opposition party in Germany’s national parliament and is strongest in the formerly communist and less prosperous east, where Saxony-Anhalt is located.

Its regional branch in Saxony-Anhalt is one of several classified as a proven right-wing extremist group by the domestic intelligence agency, which points to members’ denigration of migrants from Muslim countries among other things.

The party talks of “remigration,” a politically charged term for the deportation of immigrants.

Its leader in a neighboring state appealed two convictions for knowingly using a Nazi slogan.

AfD vehemently rejects accusations of extremism and says they’re politically motivated.

Big decline for German leader’s party Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and partial counting, put AfD at a bit over 44% of the vote, more than double its showing five years ago in the region of 2.1 million people west of Berlin.