Far-Right German Party Ahead of Rivals in State Election, But Misses Majority

Ulrich Siegmund, leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, speaks on stage with AfD co-leader Alice Weidel at the party headquarters following the Saxony-Anhalt regional elections in Magdeburg, Germany, on Sept.

6, 2026. —Krisztian Bocsi—Bloomberg/Getty Images Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) is poised to finish ahead of rivals in a state election, coming closer than any other far-right party in the country to governing at a regional level since World War II.

The party won 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election on Sunday, according to provisional results .

By comparison, center-right CDU , the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz , won less than 20%.

The state of 2.1 million people saw a record voter turnout of 77%.

But the party faces an uncertain path towards power.

Without an absolute majority, it would need a coalition partner or support from lawmakers outside the party to form a government—something that German mainstream parties have thus far refused to provide.

Nevertheless, the surge in support for the AfD, which ran on a platform of restricting immigration , ending aid to Ukraine , and taking Germany out of the euro, is remarkable in a country where the legacy of Nazism has long kept the far right at the political margins.

The party’s Saxony-Anhalt branch is classified by the state’s domestic intelligence as “right-wing extremist,” a designation that its leaders reject.

“We have made history in this country,” Ulrich Siegmund, AfD’s lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, said after polls closed.

“We’re taking our country back, it starts in Saxony-Anhalt,” he added .

“A jolt is going through all of Germany.” The result has already drawn global reactions.

U.S.

President Donald Trump posted a screenshot of the projected results without comment on Truth Social.