The far-right AfD nearly doubled its score to 43.8% in Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state election, while the centre-right CDU and centre-left SPD fell sharply, prompting concern in parts of Europe's political centre about a wider nationalist trend.
Key facts
- AfD won 43.8% of the vote in Sunday's Saxony-Anhalt state election, nearly doubling its score from the same race five years ago, according to the Guardian.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz's centre-right CDU fell to 17.2%, less than half its total five years ago, the Guardian reported.
- The centre-left SPD took 9.3%.
- AfD fell just short of a majority in the regional election, according to Al Jazeera.
- Guardian analysts linked the result to mainstream policy failures and what they described as the gradual normalisation of far-right ideas, while cautioning that sweeping conclusions cannot yet be drawn from a single state election.
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) won 43.8% of the vote in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt state election on Sunday, a result the Guardian described as historic. The figure represents almost a doubling of the party’s score in the same race five years ago.
The result came at the expense of Germany’s traditional governing parties. The centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz fell to 17.2%, less than half its total from the previous election, the Guardian reported. The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), one of Germany’s two main governing parties for more than 60 years, took 9.3%.
As Al Jazeera reported, the AfD fell just short of a majority in the regional vote. The Guardian summarised the outcome by saying “the centre did not hold.”
In its analysis, the Guardian characterised the AfD as a party that “dabbles in Nazi imagery” and distinguishes between “biological” and “passport” Germans, and said it was regarded as too extreme even by France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen. These are the Guardian’s characterisations; the AfD rejects such descriptions.
The Guardian cautioned that sweeping conclusions cannot yet be drawn from a single state election, but framed the result as part of a wider trend it attributed to mainstream policy failures and the gradual normalisation of far-right ideas across Europe.
Al Jazeera examined the potential implications of the AfD’s rise for Germany and Europe. It is not yet clear from the available sources how a government will be formed in Saxony-Anhalt, given that other parties have previously ruled out coalitions with the AfD.
Why it matters
Germany is Europe's largest economy and a central pillar of the European Union, so a strong showing by a far-right party there draws attention beyond its borders. The steep decline of the country's traditional governing parties in Saxony-Anhalt has raised questions about the resilience of Europe's political centre amid rising nationalist support.