AfD victory: “Its leverage is not Saxony-Anhalt, but the possibility of bringing down Friedrich Merz”

The AfD’s strong showing in Saxony-Anhalt was widely expected. What makes the result politically explosive are two figures: the AfD reached a record 44 percent, while the CDU plunged below 20 percent and nearly halved its support.

That combination leaves coalition-building in Magdeburg particularly difficult. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, also cleared the five-percent threshold and entered the state parliament. It could now become the kingmaker for the AfD.

In the Die Presse podcast “What Matters,” foreign-policy journalist Christoph Zotter examines what might happen next. The discussion focuses not only on the difficulty of forming a government in Saxony-Anhalt, but also on why the AfD’s real leverage may not be in Magdeburg at all. Instead, it may be in Berlin and in the possibility of putting Chancellor Friedrich Merz under pressure.

The podcast also discusses why AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund described Merz as the AfD’s biggest campaign helper. Pressure on the chancellor has risen sharply ahead of elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as well as North Rhine-Westphalia in the spring.

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Its leverage is not Saxony-Anhalt, but the possibility of bringing down Friedrich Merz.