Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is pushing to take control of the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt after its historic election victory, arguing that rival parties should respect the result and enter negotiations.
Preliminary results from Sunday’s election show the AfD winning 43.8% of the vote, leaving it just three seats short of an outright majority in the state parliament.
The party is projected to secure 39 of the legislature’s 83 seats, while 42 are required for a majority. With the final result still pending, the AfD is seeking support from other parties or individual lawmakers in an effort to form a government.
AfD deputy parliamentary leader Beatrix von Storch said the party was “very, very close” to taking power and called on political opponents to engage in talks rather than continue their refusal to cooperate with the party.
She argued that other parties could not simply reject the choice made by voters and warned that continued refusal to cooperate with the AfD could lead to political instability or even another election.
AfD leader in Saxony-Anhalt Ulrich Siegmund also said the result represented a “clear mandate to govern.” He said discussions with other political forces began on Sunday night and could continue for days or even weeks.
According to Siegmund, the AfD intends to approach different political groups and individual lawmakers to determine whether enough support can be secured to form a government.
Most of Germany’s established political parties have maintained a policy of refusing to cooperate with the AfD. However, von Storch said her party was speaking with individual lawmakers from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), claiming some were deeply dissatisfied with their own party.
The CDU, which led Saxony-Anhalt’s outgoing governing coalition, suffered a major defeat, securing only 17.2% of the vote in the preliminary results.
The AfD’s breakthrough is particularly significant because no far-right party has governed a German state since World War Two. Taking control of Saxony-Anhalt would give the party substantial authority over areas including policing and local education.
Saxony-Anhalt has approximately 2.1 million residents. The AfD’s state branch has been classified as “right-wing extremist” by domestic intelligence authorities, a designation rejected by Siegmund.
With the AfD just three seats away from a majority, attention is now focused on whether it can attract enough support from outside its parliamentary group to take power.
