AfD seeks first far-right governor in Saxony-Anhalt — SkimNews
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- AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund declared "we will write history here" as Saxony-Anhalt, a region of 2.1 million people west of Berlin, voted Sunday in a state legislature election that could produce Germany's first far-right governorship in its 13-year history.
- Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified AfD's Saxony-Anhalt branch as a proven right-wing extremist group — a designation the party vehemently rejects but that has hardened mainstream parties' refusal to work with it.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned an AfD government would be an economic own-goal, telling voters that international investors would "think three times" before investing in Saxony-Anhalt if the far right won an absolute majority.
- Incumbent Governor Sven Schulze (CDU) refuses to work with AfD and says his party is "100%" behind him, but if AfD falls short of a majority, he may need tacit support from the Left Party — with which CDU refuses to form formal coalitions.
- AfD finished first in neighboring Thuringia two years ago but did not govern; a CDU governor took power with a minority government instead, offering a precedent that finishing first doesn't guarantee taking office.
- The CDU has led Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years and faces two more AfD-tinged tests on Sept. 20 — state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin — with the party also under pressure from discontent with the unpopular national government.
Why it matters: If AfD clears an absolute majority, Germany's mainstream 'firewall' collapses at the state level, handing the party its first governorship in its 13-year history. Even short of that, strong AfD finishes across three regional elections in weeks deliver a symbolic blow to Merz and validate his own warning that investors will pull back from eastern Germany.
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