AfD secures 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt state election as CDU falls to 17.2%
Alternative for Germany won 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, falling three seats short of an absolute majority as the governing CDU dropped to 17.2%.
Preliminary election results
Preliminary official results in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt show Alternative for Germany (AfD) winning 43.8% of the vote. The total doubles the party's 20.8% share from the 2021 election. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished second with 17.2%, falling from 37.1% in 2021. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) received 9.3%, Alliance 90/The Greens secured 8.9%, and Die Linke obtained 8.6%. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) cleared the 5% electoral threshold with 5.3%, while the Free Democratic Party (FDP) failed to enter parliament. Voter turnout reached nearly 78% across 2,130 polling precincts, drawing approximately 1.7 million eligible voters in the highest participation rate recorded in the state since German reunification in 1990.
- AfD
- 43.8 %
- CDU
- 17.2 %
- SPD
- 9.3 %
- Alliance 90/The Greens
- 8.9 %
- Die Linke
- 8.6 %
- BSW
- 5.3 %
Parliamentary balance and coalition paths
Vote counting concluded around 03:00 on Monday morning, placing AfD at 39 seats in the 83-seat state parliament in Magdeburg. That total leaves the party three seats short of a 42-seat absolute majority. BSW is projected to take five seats, while the outgoing coalition of CDU, SPD, and FDP lost its parliamentary majority. AfD state lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund and federal co-leader Alice Weidel both declared that the party received a governing mandate. Mainstream parties maintain an official firewall policy barring cooperation with AfD, which domestic intelligence classifies as extremist in the state. BSW stated that it rejects the firewall and remains open to talks, though it ruled out voting for an AfD premier.
As a democrat, I extend my hand to all parties that want to bring about a turnaround in this country with us.
- Polling stations close across 2,130 precincts in Saxony-Anhalt
- Initial television projections place AfD in the lead with 44.5 percent
- Vote counting concludes with AfD securing 43.8 percent of votes
Repercussions for state leadership
The result ends 24 consecutive years of CDU-led state government in Magdeburg. Current Minister-President Sven Schulze, who took office in January 2026 after succeeding Reiner Haseloff, conceded defeat during public television broadcasts. Forming an administration without AfD would require an unwieldy alliance comprising the CDU, SPD, the Greens, and Die Linke. CDU general secretary Franziska Hoppermann reaffirmed that the party will not govern alongside extremists, though Schulze gave measured responses regarding how the local party will proceed.
There is the decision of the Brandmauer, and we have this result. We must now look at how we move forward.
Federal pressure on Chancellor Merz
The state outcome creates acute difficulties for CDU Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin. Thorsten Frei, the CDU parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, described the outcome as a political caesura for the country. Merz had previously pledged to halve AfD polling through stricter asylum policies and parliamentary resolutions introduced in January 2025. ARD voter polling indicated that dissatisfaction with the federal coalition drove significant support toward AfD. Mitteldeutsche Zeitung editor-in-chief Marc Rath noted that new federal borrowing measures passed after the national election broke campaign pledges, while analyst Dirk Rochtus pointed to economic conditions, post-reunification wealth disparities, and opposition to German arms shipments to Ukraine.
