Saxony-Anhalt Election: Live Coverage

The Alternative for Germany is expected to win Sunday’s election to the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt, a small eastern German state. Whether that result would allow the party to form a government remains uncertain.

All other mainstream German parties have ruled out cooperation with the AfD. A grouping created after a split from the socialist Left party also rejects entering government with the AfD, while its own entry into the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament is not guaranteed.

The AfD could nevertheless secure a majority if the Greens, the Free Democrats and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance all fail to cross the electoral threshold. About 1.6 million people are eligible to vote in the state.

The election has significance beyond Saxony-Anhalt. Votes in two other eastern states, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, will take place two weeks later. If the AfD performs very strongly across all three contests, the future of the federal government formed by the CDU/CSU and SPD, and especially Chancellor Friedrich Merz, could come under pressure, Rzeczpospolita’s head of international affairs writes.