Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is poised for a landslide victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, according to exit polls. While it remains uncertain whether the party can secure enough seats to form a government, AfD officials are declaring a mandate to rule.
Exit polls project the far-right party with 44.5% of the vote, well ahead of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at 18.5%. The AfD has branded the result a ‘historic outcome,’ and state leader Ulrich Siegmund has insisted on governing without coalition partners.
No far-right party has seized control of a German state since the end of World War II, and state-level governance would grant authority over policing, education, and cultural policy.
Saxony-Anhalt, home to roughly 2.1 million people, hosts an AfD branch that German domestic intelligence classifies as far-right extremist—a designation the party and its leader reject.
