Berlin, September 6th, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – In Germany’s federal state of Saxony- Anhalt, the right-wing extremist AfD won today’s state election. For the first time since March 5th, 1933, an organization of this kind has gotten the most votes in a German election with more than one party allowed to participate.
Polling locations closed at 6:00 p.m. CEST. Counting has begun. This is the latest result:
Time: 7:06 p.m. CEST
CDU (conservative): 18.3 percent
SPD (center-left): 8.7 percent
The Greens (center-left): 8.7 percent
AfD (extremist right): 44.3 percent
Die Linke (far-left): 9.2 percent
FDP (center-right): 2.4 percent
BSW (extremist left): 4.8 percent
According to these numbers, the CDU’s share of votes was slashed in half, compared to the last state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, while the AfD nearly doubled itself.
In case the projection turns out to be close to the final result, the AfD’s main candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, might be able to become Minister President (governor) of Saxony-Anhalt without needing coalition partners.
Experts expect the AfD to do a lot of damage when it comes into power. It will at least try to implement racist policies, to dump compulsory school attendance and to damage the public broadcasters by canceling the state’s treaty with them. More issues are expected to pop up.
The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony-Anhalt has classified the AfD as extremist right-wing. The same applies in the states of Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Saxony and Thuringia.
Nepotism Scandal
Siegmund has been described as a candidate with charisma and an ever-smiling hopeful for the AfD. The way he talked to people in the state might be one reason for his win. He kept the typical narrative alive according to which the “old-parties” are damaging Germany and only his party can save the country.
The fact that Siegmund himself was criticized for being involved in his party’s nepotism scandal has not hurt the AfD. Neither has the fact that the party’s caucus in Saxony-Anhalt’s state parliament employs four former members of a Nazi group called “Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend” (HDJ) or the AfD’s sympathies for Vladimir Putin.
A proposed banning procedure against the AfD has not been initiated by the Bundestag or the federal government even though experts say there would be enough evidence that showed the party was not in conformity with the constitution.
