The confirmed, full results in Germany's Saxony-Anhalt regional election are likely to be a major political headache for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) party have governed the eastern state for more than 20 years. Sunday evening’s exit poll showing the far-right, pro-Russian, Alternative for Germany (AfD) potentially gaining 44.5 per cent of the vote is beyond the 40 per cent recent opinion polls had been showing and well in excess of the 20.8 per cent the party secured in 2021. Mr Merz's CDU fell to 18.5 per cent in the exit poll from 37.1 per cent in 2021.
The CDU currently leads a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the free-market Free Democrats (FDP). About 1.7 million people were eligible to vote in the east-central state of 2.1 million residents. Participation was at a record high of 76.5 pert cent The AfD had been looking to secure an absolute majority of above 50 per cent, to ensure they could try and implement their own radical agenda.
If the AfD were to take control of the regional parliament, they would be the first far-right party to have power in either a regional or the national parliament since the Second World War. If this were to happen, what is known in Germany as the "firewall" – where parties create coalitions to keep far-right parties from power – would be breached for the first time. The AfD has been clear about what it would do if it were to take power.
It seeks to restrict immigration, quit the Euro and restore ties with Russia as most of Europe rallies around Ukraine. Based on the party’s “Vision 2026” election manifesto, victory in Saxony-Anhalt could invite sweeping reforms around state policy on migration, education, culture and the family. Under Germany's federal system, state governments sit in the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, and also have wide powers in education, domestic security and culture.
An AfD-led state would launch a crackdown on migration with a task force set up to coordinate quicker deportations. The children of refugees would be placed in separate classes at school to prevent what the party claims are “stresses” on the other children from being around different cultures. Meanwhile children with disabilities would no longer be taught in the same classroom as those without, instead, being sent to new schools.
Schools would also be banned from flying rainbow flags, and the government would exhaust “all legal avenues” to limit Islamic expression. The party has claimed greater acceptance of what it offensively labels as"sexual deviations and non-reproductive lifestyles" has contributed to sinking birth rates and promises to aggressively promote "traditional" family structures consisting of a mother, father and children. An AfD government would see major changes to the school curriculum around a “patriotic cultural policy”, extended to raising the German national flag daily and singing the national anthem at school celebrations.
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