The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), elated after its overwhelming electoral victory on Sunday in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, hopes to gain the support of individual CDU deputies in order to govern this sparsely populated eastern state, which has become the epicenter of a tremendous shake-up in German politics.
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Despite its spectacular result of 43.8% of the votes, the AfD fell just short of an absolute majority and must negotiate the investiture of its candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, as regional president, and hopes, as it hinted on Monday, that some CDU parliamentarians will break the Brandmauer (firewall) with which the parties have so far excluded the far right from all governments.
“We will talk with parliamentary groups and individual deputies willing to join us to face this historic task, and who share the fundamental principles that made such a successful election in Saxony-Anhalt possible,” Siegmund said on Monday at a press conference in Berlin alongside the party’s federal co-leaders, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. “There is understanding for our positions in some sectors of the conservatives,” said Ulrich Siegmund, who assured that he will only be president with “a stable majority.”
According to preliminary results, the Christian Democratic CDU came in second, with 17.2% of the votes, followed by the Social Democratic SPD (9.3%), the Greens (8.9%), and the leftist Die Linke (8.6%). The leftist anti-immigration and pro-Russian party Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which with its 5.3% has made an unexpected entry into the Magdeburg chamber, is another route through which the AfD could achieve government.
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Founder Wagenknecht had said several times that she sees no point in the firewall because it is “anti-democratic” and that, if necessary, the BSW would abstain in the third investiture vote, which requires only a simple majority, allowing Siegmund to be elected president with only his party’s votes. Although BSW and AfD share some positions, especially rejection of immigration, when Siegmund spoke of “fundamental principles” regarding potential support, he was referring to the CDU conservatives.
Political earthquake punishing Merz
The AfD believes that the victory in Saxony-Anhalt will propel them towards the federal government after the 2029 general elections
The far-right’s victory in this sparsely populated eastern state, with 2.1 million inhabitants, has become the epicenter of an earthquake punishing Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government, and which changes the political paradigm of Germany sustained for decades since the end of World War II. The AfD believes this will propel them towards governing Germany in the next general elections, initially scheduled for 2029.
Weidel said that the AfD aims to obtain at least 40% of the votes in those elections. Siegmund also proclaimed the AfD’s national ambitions, stating that “as the next president of Saxony-Anhalt” he will need “a Chancellor Alice Weidel in Berlin” to “make history together” by implementing the party’s policies.
