Germany's right-wing AfD seeks landmark state victory as Saxony-Anhalt votes
The AfD is polling at about 41% and could bypass coalition talks if smaller parties miss Germany’s 5% threshold, officials and polls show.
- On Sunday, September 6, 2026, voters in Saxony-Anhalt cast ballots in a high-stakes election where polls place the far-right Alternative for Germany at 41%, potentially securing its first state government.
- Government commissioner for eastern Germany Elisabeth Kaiser attributes the AfD's appeal to lingering economic disparities from 1990 reunification, as voters recall the 'baseball bat years' and feelings of being 'disadvantaged and not seen.'
- Mainstream parties maintain a 'firewall' refusing cooperation with the AfD, though the party could bypass this by securing an absolute majority if smaller parties fail to clear the 5% parliamentary threshold.
- Falling short of an absolute majority would leave the Christian Democratic Union in a difficult position, as incumbent state premier Sven Schulze has ruled out cooperation with the AfD and faces coalition constraints.
- AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund frames the election as a 'stepping stone' toward 2029 national power, though security officials warn that an AfD interior minister could pose a 'glaring security risk' for Germany.
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299 Articles
However, the AfD is not assured of obtaining an absolute majority to take over the region.
Today Sachsen-Anhalt elects. Since 8 o'clock the polling stations are open.
The extreme right at the gates of regional power in Germany? Given largely in the polls, the AfD could win a historic majority this Sunday. ...
The polling stations are well attended on this Sunday. This is shown by the interim state of turnout, which the Land Returning Officer announces.By the early afternoon, more than one in two voted in the Landtag elections in Saxony-Anhalt. At 2 p.m., the turnout was 54.4 percent, according to the Land Returning Officer Christa Dieckmann in Magdeburg. In the Landtag elections five years ago, the turnout at the same time was 27.1 percent, and in 20…
Polls opened in the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday in a crucial regional vote. More than 1.7 million voters have until 6 p.m. local time to cast their ballots in an election seen as a crucial test for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's federal coalition. According to opinion polls, the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), led by its main candidate Ulrich Siegmund, is well ahead of the CDU, with more than 40 percen…
Voting in Saxony-Anhalt can lead AfD to command of a regional government for the first time in the post-war period. See why it's historical and the 100-day plan.
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