AfD Eyes Cooperation With Left-Populist Party in Saxony-Anhalt

The AfD won big in Saxony-Anhalt, but not big enough to govern alone. The party took 44 percent of the vote, leaving it three seats short of a majority. If it succeeds in forming a state government, modern Germany would see an extreme-right party take power in one of its states for the first time.

AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund called the result an “unambiguous mandate to govern.” At a news conference in Berlin, he said he was extending “a hand to everyone.” In practice, talks with Die Linke, the SPD and the Greens appear ruled out. The CDU also rejects cooperation with the AfD as a matter of principle, but Siegmund suggested he would try to persuade individual CDU lawmakers either to defect or to support the AfD. For the CDU, which won just 17 percent, its worst result in the state since reunification, that would mean another defeat.

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An unambiguous mandate to govern

The AfD has another, potentially easier route. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, unexpectedly cleared the five-percent threshold with 5.3 percent and is the only party prepared to consider some cooperation with the AfD. That puts Wagenknecht’s party in a pivotal position after the election.

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A hand to everyone

Wagenknecht deliberately moved the BSW toward this role. The left-populist party was founded in early 2024 and soon won strong results in state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. It joined coalition governments in the latter two states, but tensions grew as Wagenknecht continued to intervene from Berlin in her party’s decisions and public statements. BSW coalition members in Brandenburg resigned at the end of 2025, citing “authoritarian tendencies.”

Wagenknecht later stepped down as party leader but continued to influence the party behind the scenes. After the BSW failed to clear the threshold in the 2025 federal election and remained stuck near four percent in Saxony-Anhalt polls, she announced in August that the party was willing to work with the AfD. The move divided the BSW. One candidate in Halle withdrew, and almost the entire party faction in Thuringia left the organization the following week. The AfD now faces a choice between difficult negotiations, an unconventional partnership, and another election.

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Authoritarian tendencies