{"id":675635,"date":"2026-09-06T17:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/675635\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:38:15","slug":"far-right-afd-wins-key-german-state-election-but-may-fail-to-secure-majority-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/675635\/","title":{"rendered":"Far-right AfD wins key German state election but may fail to secure majority \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The populist far-right, anti-immigration Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD)<\/a> has emerged as the winner in a crucial state election in Germany, exit polls have projected, but it remains unclear whether it will be able to form a government and become the first far-right party to gain power at regional or parliament level since the second World War.<\/p>\n

Initial exit polls showed the party to have secured 44.5 per cent of the vote, decisively ahead of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)<\/a> of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz<\/a>, in a contest that was being followed across the world.<\/p>\n

The CDU was trailing hugely on 18.5 per cent and the far-left Die Linke was third with 9.5 per cent, with the Social Democrats on 8 per cent and the Greens on 9 per cent. The smaller BSW reached the 5 per cent hurdle needed to re-enter parliament, against expectations.<\/p>\n

Votes are still being counted, but it appeared initially that AfD might have failed to secure an absolute majority, the condition it has said is central to it taking power, as it refuses to govern with another party.<\/p>\n

Participation was at a record high of 76.5 per cent.<\/p>\n

About 1.7 million people were eligible to vote in the east-central state of 2.1 million residents. Polling booths opened at 8am local time and closed at 6pm, when exit polls delivered the first indication that AfD had secured enough votes for an absolute majority, enabling it to govern the state.<\/p>\n

This marks the first time the party has won a state government election, and the first time since the second World War that a right-wing extremist party has gained power at regional state or parliament level in Germany.<\/p>\n

Final polls before the vote had shown AfD to have around 40-41 per cent of support. The party ended up doing even better than predicted but fell short of the goal of its charismatic lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, to gain 45 per cent or more.<\/p>\n

Siegmund had consistently said he would refuse to take over as state premier unless his party gained an absolute majority, saying this was the only way it could effectively enact change in Germany.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ulrich Siegmund: AfD\u2019s scent specialist smells victoryOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The number of undecided voters in advance of the vote was much lower than at previous elections, polling showed.<\/p>\n

In a reflection of the significance of the vote for the entire German political landscape, the level of voter participation was considerably higher than at previous elections, hitting 54 per cent by 2pm, compared with 27 per cent at the same time for the equivalent vote five years ago, according to the state election commissioner.<\/p>\n

The small state has been governed since 2021 by Merz\u2019s conservative CDU, together with two smaller parties.<\/p>\n

The CDU and all other mainstream parties have refused to collude with the AfD in a government, in what is referred to as a Brandmauer, or firewall against the far right. The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has been classed as \u201cright-wing extremist\u201d by Germany\u2019s domestic intelligence agency.<\/p>\n

At a final rally on Saturday, Siegmund, a 35-year-old former fragrance salesman with a large following on TikTok who has been celebrated like a pop star, told supporters: \u201cNo matter the outcome of tomorrow\u2019s election, \u200bwe have already made history.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018De-demonisation\u2019 of Europe\u2019s far right clears ground for resurgence of fascist ideasOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The Saxony-Anhalt election had been seen as the biggest test yet for Merz, who is unpopular, along with his government \u2013 a coalition with the SPD \u2013 having failed in his promises so far to reset Germany\u2019s struggling economy or stop the rise of the AfD, which has been making regular and steady gains since it entered parliament in 2017 and is now the leading opposition party. Irregular immigration has reduced since Merz has been in office, but not to the extent that it has appeased the average voter.<\/p>\n

A win for AfD puts huge pressure on Merz. In national polls, the CDU has also been overtaken by AfD, which has its eyes on victory at the next federal elections in 2029 or 2033.<\/p>\n

If AfD manages to form a government in Saxony-Anhalt, Siegmund has promised to immediately start a remigration and deportation offensive, ban rainbow flags in schools, and halt the building of new wind farms.<\/p>\n

He wants to change the slogan of the state from \u201cThink Modern\u201d to \u201cThink German\u201d, and to reintroduce the singing of the German national anthem in schools.<\/p>\n

Siegmund also sought in the campaign to capitalise on a mood of \u201costalgie\u201d or nostalgia for communist East Germany, and to tap into discontent among East Germans. He has made repeated references to a rise in foreigner-related crime, even as the crime rate has fallen dramatically.<\/p>\n

Siegmund turned up to vote on Sunday morning with his wife, riding an East German-era moped in the party colours, which was also a prominent prop during the election campaign in rallies across the state. <\/p>\n

In a statement in front of the polling station, he voiced his optimism that the party would achieve \u201c45 per cent, and some\u201d, and saying he wanted to \u201cbuild bridges\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tensions before the election were high, with a considerable police presence and a number of demonstrations planned. Thousands of opponents of AfD gathered in the state capital, Magdeburg, on Saturday, for a \u201cfestival of democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Saturday evening, a message beamed on to the facade of Magdeburg Cathedral read: \u201cWe do not abandon what we love. True love of the homeland is not the AfD.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bishop of Magdeburg, Gerhard Feige, in an address to a gathering of churchgoers, warned against forces \u201cthat want to sow discord, stoke mistrust and fear\u201d. <\/p>\n

He drew parallels with history, warning that a democracy has the potential to abolish itself. \u201cNot everyone who votes or is elected democratically is a democrat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The German Economic Institute has warned of the far-reaching consequences for the German economy, in Saxony-Anhalt and beyond. It said AfD\u2019s immigration policy would be \u201ccalamitous\u201d for the state, which has an ageing, dwindling population and is heavily dependent on foreign workers.<\/p>\n

Critics have also warned that an AfD-run state, due to the Kremlin-friendly stance of the party, could leak sensitive information to Russia. AfD has dismissed such claims. It has said it would seek to reform the domestic intelligence service, calling it biased. <\/p>\n

\u2013 Guardian News and Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The populist far-right, anti-immigration Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD) has emerged as the winner in a crucial state election…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[113297,9,10,113296,18,13,14,6622,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,1150,7,8],"class_list":["post-675635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-afd-alternative-for-germany","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-christian-democratic-union","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-tiktok","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}