Berlin, September 7th (The Berlin Spectator) – The extremist right-wing AfD, led by its top candidate Ulrich Siegmund, won Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt by a wide margin but missed the absolute majority it had been aiming for. The CDU, under State Premier Sven Schulze, came in a distant second after heavy losses, according to preliminary results published by the state’s returning officer.
For the first time since the end of World War II, a party officially classified as confirmed right-wing extremist could take power in a German state, but only with outside support. Whether the AfD can persuade individual lawmakers from other factions to back Siegmund for the premiership remains unclear. Before the election, every other party in the state parliament had ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD.
According to the preliminary count, the Left Party lost ground, while the Social Democrats (SPD) stayed in single digits. The Greens posted their best-ever result in a Saxony-Anhalt state election. The FDP fell below the five percent threshold needed to enter parliament, prompting state chair Sylvia Hüskens to announce her resignation. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), after a nail-biting count, is set to enter the Magdeburg state parliament for the first time.
AfD More Than Doubles Its Vote Share
Preliminary results show the AfD more than doubling its vote share to 43.8 percent, up from 20.8 percent in 2021, the strongest result any party has posted in a German state election in the past decade, and a new record for the AfD itself. The CDU crashed to 17.2 percent, down from 37.1 percent, its worst-ever showing in a Saxony-Anhalt state election.
The Left Party dropped slightly to 8.6 percent (from 11), while the SPD edged up to 9.3 percent (from 8.4) off a low base. The Greens climbed to 8.9 percent (from 5.9). The FDP was pushed out of parliament with 2.6 percent (down from 6.4), and the BSW took 5.3 percent.
In the Magdeburg state parliament, that translates into 39 seats for the AfD (up from 23 in 2021), 15 for the CDU (down from 40), 8 each for the Left Party, the SPD, and the Greens, and 5 for the BSW.
Turnout stood at 77.8 percent, according to preliminary figures, up sharply from 60.3 percent in 2021 and the highest level recorded in Saxony-Anhalt since reunification. Roughly 1.7 million people were eligible to vote.
Coalition Math Turns Complicated
The outgoing coalition of the CDU, SPD, and FDP is now finished, though Premier Schulze and his cabinet will stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new premier is elected. The AfD had campaigned on a goal of governing alone, a target it fell short of, but the remaining paths to a government are anything but simple.
The only coalition that would command a majority without the AfD, on paper, would require every other party to join forces. But the CDU’s national party congress has ruled out any coalition or comparable form of cooperation not only with the AfD but with the Left Party as well, a policy commonly referred to as the “firewall.” That stance would complicate even a CDU-led minority government, and BSW’s national leadership has separately ruled out backing CDU candidate Schulze for premier.
AfD Says It Has a Mandate to Govern
AfD top candidate Siegmund called the result a clear mandate to govern, saying he would take office “even with a majority of just one vote”, a reversal of his campaign pledge to govern only with a stable majority. The 35-year-old said he currently sees no coalition partners, but added that he couldn’t predict what the coming days might bring, suggesting individual lawmakers from other parties could still break ranks.
AfD national co-chair Alice Weidel likewise described the outcome as an unambiguous mandate to govern, while co-chair Tino Chrupalla confirmed Siegmund would stand as the AfD’s candidate for state premier in parliament.
Should government formation fail, Siegmund said he saw a new election as a realistic option, one he suggested could push the AfD’s support to 50 or 55 percent.
Schulze Concedes Defeat
CDU candidate Schulze, who had only taken office as premier in January, acknowledged the defeat as his party’s, saying he would travel to Berlin for national party meetings the following day before discussing next steps with the state executive. He left open what consequences might follow. Within his own party, CDU state lawmaker Eva Feußner and the Junge Union youth wing in Saxony-Anhalt both called on him to step down as state party chair.
Thorsten Frei, who leads the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag, said his party faced difficult talks ahead on forming a government that excludes the AfD, adding that this was no time to shy away from the challenge, while again ruling out any cooperation with the AfD.
BSW Candidate Signals Openness to AfD Talks
BSW top candidate Thomas Schulze struck a different tone, saying his party was open to talks with every party, the AfD included, and dismissing the idea of a “firewall” against the far right. BSW national co-chair Amira Mohamed Ali, however, said the party would stick to its pre-election pledge and back neither Schulze nor Siegmund for premier.
FDP state chair Hüskens, announcing her resignation after her party’s failure to clear the five-percent hurdle, said that as the lead candidate, the consequences were hers to bear.
Two More State Elections in Two Weeks
The fallout from the CDU’s collapse for the governing coalition in Berlin, where the CDU governs alongside the SPD at the federal level, remains to be seen. Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz made no public comment on his party’s setback Sunday evening. Two more state elections follow in just two weeks, on September 20th, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and in the city-state of Berlin.
