Exit Polls Put AfD on 44% in German State Election

The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is projected to win about 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, according to exit polls released after polling stations closed at 6 p.m.

ZDF put the party at 44%, while ARD gave it 44.5%. The figures are not final results. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative CDU, which has governed the state since 2002, was projected to fall to 18.5% in the ARD poll, compared with 37.1% in the 2021 election.

The two polls differed over which smaller parties would clear the five-percent threshold. ARD projected that the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance would enter the state parliament. ZDF put the alliance at 4.8%, just below the threshold.

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We have written history today.

That difference could decide whether the AfD wins an absolute majority and governs the state alone. ARD projected 39 AfD seats out of 83, while ZDF projected 41.

AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund said, “We have written history today,” according to AFP. Reuters quoted him as saying the party would “reach out to all democratic forces that want to pursue better policies.” Siegmund, 35, was described by Der Spiegel in August as “Germany’s most dangerous man.” Germany’s domestic intelligence service classifies the AfD as a right-wing extremist organization in Saxony-Anhalt and four other states, dpa reported. The result is being closely watched in Germany and abroad as the party gains support in eastern Germany amid economic uncertainty.

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Reach out to all democratic forces that want to pursue better policies.