International reactions: Tusk says only idiots are pleased by AfD triumph

Donald Tusk reacted with disbelief to the AfD's success in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, using unusually sharp language to attack those in Poland who welcomed the result.

"In Poland, only idiots or traitors can rejoice at the AfD's triumph in Germany," the Polish prime minister wrote on X on election night. He said many such people had gathered in the opposition parties Confederation and Law and Justice, known by its Polish acronym PiS.

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In Poland, only idiots or traitors can rejoice at the AfD's triumph in Germany.

In neighboring Czechia, Parliament Speaker Tomio Okamura took the opposite view. Speaking on public broadcaster CT, he congratulated the AfD and said he hoped it would become part of the new coalition government in Saxony-Anhalt. A coalition formed against the AfD, he argued, would go against the voters' wishes.

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I hope above all that it will be part of the new governing coalition in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Okamura founded the right-wing Freedom and Direct Democracy party. In Czechia, his party has governed since the end of 2025 in a coalition with billionaire Andrej Babiš's populist ANO and the Motorists party.

Vít Rakušan, a conservative opposition politician and former interior minister, said the election should serve as a warning. "The AfD's victory in Saxony-Anhalt shows how dangerous it is when democrats leave major issues such as migration and other pressing social questions to populists," said Rakušan, who leads the STAN party. Rather than simply expressing outrage at what he called openly pro-Russian extremists in Germany, he said, democrats needed to offer realistic and lasting solutions.

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The AfD's victory in Saxony-Anhalt shows how dangerous it is when democrats leave major issues such as migration and other pressing social questions to populists.