{"id":1046403,"date":"2026-09-06T06:25:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T06:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046403\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T06:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T06:25:17","slug":"german-voters-head-to-polls-as-far-right-afd-party-eyes-historic-state-win-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1046403\/","title":{"rendered":"German voters head to polls as far-right AfD party eyes historic state win | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saxony-Anhalt elections could see AfD become the first far-right party to take power at a state level\u00a0since WWII.<\/p>\n

Published On 6 Sep 20266 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

Voters in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt will head to closely watched polls on Sunday that could see the Alternative for Germany (AfD) become the first far-right party to take power at a state level since World War II.<\/p>\n

Recent surveys place AfD at 40 percent, ahead of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) at 23 percent.<\/p>\n

AfD has led comfortably in the polls for months and has a chance at winning an absolute majority if several smaller parties fail to clear the 5 percent threshold to enter the German parliament. The results, however, are not guaranteed.<\/p>\n

A CDU-led administration under incumbent state premier Sven Schulze is the most likely outcome if the AfD does not win a majority.<\/p>\n

Weeks \u2060of coalition talks could follow the vote, depending on which parties surpass the 5 percent minimum.<\/p>\n

AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund, who was previously a member of the CDU, predicted gaining an absolute majority that would lead the anti-establishment party to national victory in 2029. He was named<\/a> \u201cGermany\u2019s most dangerous man\u201d by the influential magazine Der Spiegel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the others who erected the firewalls,\u201d he told German tabloid Bild. \u201cIf no one wants to work with us, then we\u2019ll just have to do it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

An absolute majority would allow AfD to bypass mainstream parties\u2019 \u201cfirewall\u201d noncooperation policy, which the far-right party has already done at the local level.<\/p>\n

For the AfD, the Saxony-Anhalt \u200celections are \u2060a stepping stone towards its larger ambition: securing national power in the 2029 federal elections.<\/p>\n

The CDU is led by deeply unpopular German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.<\/p>\n

At a local campaign rally in Lower Saxony a week before the election, Merz urged other politicians to engage with AfD more effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must address the issues at hand. We must also address our choice of words,\u201d Merz said, referring to a statement by the AfD\u2019s state leader in Saxony-Anhalt, Martin Reichardt.<\/p>\n

Reichardt previously told the AfD\u2019s youth organisation that Germany had become \u201ca lazy, anti-social bum reeking of dope\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople gather to demonstrate for an open society based on solidarity during a festival of democracy in Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt, on September 5, 2026, one day before elections in the eastern German state. [AFP]<\/p>\n

Thousands of demonstrators gathered for a festival in support of democracy the night before the crucial election. Rally organisers estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 people attended the demonstration.<\/p>\n

Initial results are expected at about 16:00 GMT (6pm local time) on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saxony-Anhalt elections could see AfD become the first far-right party to take power at a state level\u00a0since WWII.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1046404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[4691,90,440,117,50,80,55040,103],"class_list":["post-1046403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-editorial","tag-elections","tag-europe","tag-germany","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-the-far-right","tag-world"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117222673649146937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}