Leaders of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has hailed its “historic” victory in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. According to preliminary official results, the AfD emerged as the largest party but fell short of a governing majority in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament. AfD lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, said his party’s result represented “a clear mandate to govern.”
AfD leader Alice Weidel told public broadcaster ZDF: “We’re breaking records here; we’ll break records throughout eastern Germany and at the federal level as well,” she said, describing the outcome as a “very clear mandate to govern.”
Weidel warned that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party “will never again win an election” if it maintains its “firewall” against cooperation with the AfD.
She described the outcome as “a disastrous result” for the CDU.
New York’s Wall Street Journal pointed to liberal immigration policy and weak economic performance as major contributors to the win, writing that conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz had disappointed voters despite exhibiting the right economic and foreign policy reform instincts. The WSJ called the victory a “warning” that voters could ultimately gamble on letting the AfD lead the country alone.
Meanwhile AfD is celebrating victory, thousands of people took to the streets in several German cities, including Frankfurt, Berlin and Mainz, calling for a ban of the far-right party, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported. A protest march titled ‘Defend Democracy! – Ban the AfD Now!’ made its way through Berlin’s government district. A larger rally against the AfD is scheduled for Monday evening at Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate. According to the police, 5,000 people are expected to attend the gathering.
