Saxony-Anhalt election: After the vote comes the ordeal

Election nights can bring a sense of release. After weeks of polling, the results finally arrive, winners and losers emerge, and the leading figures confront one another on television shortly after 6 p.m.

That moment has rarely been awaited with such tension in a state election as it was in Saxony-Anhalt. The vote involves more than choosing a parliament in eastern Germany. How roughly 1.7 million eligible voters cast their ballots could affect politics across the country.

One question looms over the result: could Germany see a far-right party govern a state for the first time since World War II? Another is whether the CDU will finally break one of its taboos by working with the AfD or the Left Party. The party could also be damaged by the choice itself.

Saxony-Anhalt therefore faces either an AfD-led government or a period of political uncertainty. Several scenarios are possible after the vote, alongside a small number of certainties. The central issue is how a government can be formed, or whether the parties will be forced to consider new elections.