Germany's Far-Right AfD Projected to Win 44% of Vote in Saxony-Anhalt State Election

In the state parliamentary election held in Saxony-Anhalt on the 6th (local time), the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was projected to secure a landslide victory with nearly half of the vote.

According to exit poll results released by public broadcaster ARD at 6 p.m. that day, the AfD's projected vote share stood at 44.5%, significantly outpacing the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU, 18.5%), The Left (9.5%), the Greens (9.0%), and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD, 8.0%).

Public broadcaster ZDF similarly projected that the AfD would take first place with 44.0% of the vote, beating out the CDU (18.5%).

The AfD is projected to win 39 out of the total 83 seats, which falls short of forming a solo government.

However, depending on whether the radical-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW)—which, unlike the CDU and other parties, has expressed a willingness to cooperate with the AfD—enters parliament, the possibility of forming a coalition government remains.

While ARD projected that the BSW would win 5.0% of the vote to secure 5 seats, ZDF forecasted that its vote share would stall at 4.8%.

If the BSW clears the 5.0% vote threshold required for seat allocation and enters parliament, the combined seat count of the AfD and the BSW could exceed the majority mark.

The AfD, which campaigns on hardline anti-immigration policies and the strengthening of German national identity, has produced a few mayors in small local municipalities since its founding in 2013, but has never held power in a state government.

Saxony-Anhalt has a population of 2.12 million and 1.69 million eligible voters, making it the 6th smallest among Germany's 16 federal states by population.

Nevertheless, this election has drawn intense attention due to the possibility of a far-right state government emerging for the first time in post-war Germany in about 80 years.

Voter turnout reached 65.3% as of 4 p.m. that day, two hours before polls closed, already surpassing the final turnout of 60.3% recorded in the previous state election in 2021.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.