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🇪🇸 Spain /Elections & Politics

Far-right AfD hopes CDU lawmakers will back it to govern Saxony-Anhalt

From La Vanguardia · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt but fell short of an absolute majority.
  • AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund is seeking support from individual CDU lawmakers and says he will govern only with a stable majority.
  • The result has intensified pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government and encouraged the AfD to look toward the 2029 federal election.

The far-right Alternative for Germany is looking across the political firewall for help governing Saxony-Anhalt. After winning 43.8% of the vote in Sunday’s election, the AfD emerged as the strongest force in the eastern German state but still fell short of an absolute majority.

Its candidate for state premier, Ulrich Siegmund, said Monday that the party would speak with parliamentary groups and individual lawmakers prepared to join it. “There is understanding for our positions in some sectors of the conservatives,” he said at a news conference in Berlin with federal co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla.

Siegmund said he would accept the post only with “a stable majority.” His appeal is directed chiefly at members of the conservative CDU, whose parties have so far excluded the far right from government through the so-called Brandmauer, or firewall. Preliminary results put the CDU at 17.2%, followed by the Social Democrats on 9.3%, the Greens on 8.9% and Die Linke on 8.6%.

We will talk with parliamentary groups and individual lawmakers who are willing to join us in taking on this historic task and who share the fundamental principles that made such a successful election in Saxony-Anhalt possible.

· Ulrich SiegmundThe AfD candidate appealed for support from lawmakers after the party fell short of a majority.

Another possible route involves the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, which entered the Magdeburg parliament unexpectedly with 5.3%. Its founder, Sahra Wagenknecht, has repeatedly called the firewall undemocratic and said the party could abstain in a third investiture vote, where a simple majority would suffice. That could allow Siegmund to win with only AfD votes. The BSW and AfD share some positions, especially opposition to immigration, although Siegmund’s reference to “fundamental principles” appeared aimed at conservative lawmakers.

The victory has been portrayed as a political earthquake in the state, which has 2.1 million residents, and as a setback for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government. The AfD says the result could propel it toward federal power after the next general election, currently expected in 2029. The vote has therefore opened a direct test of whether Germany’s long-standing refusal to bring the far right into government can withstand the AfD’s advance.

There is understanding for our positions in some sectors of the conservatives.

· Ulrich SiegmundHe claimed that some CDU members may be open to the AfD’s positions.
About this summary

Originally published by La Vanguardia in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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