German exit polls suggest far-right party has big lead in regional election — SkimNews
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- AfD is projected to win 44.1–44.5% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, comfortably ahead of the CDU's projected 18.5%, per ARD and ZDF exit polls released Sunday
- The CDU's projected 18.5% is roughly half its 2021 regional share, while AfD's roughly 44% doubles its 2021 result of 20.8%
- If AfD wins enough seats for a parliamentary majority, it would mark the first time in Germany's postwar history that a far-right party leads a state government
- AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund, a 35-year-old former marketing executive, campaigned on mass deportations and the party's platform of closer ties with Russia and the U.S. MAGA movement
- AfD federal leader Alice Weidel told ZDF that Chancellor Merz's conservatives "will never win another election," and Siegmund thanked Merz for being "a very good campaigner for us"
- The AfD is now also polling first at the federal level and has been classified as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence authorities in several German states
Why it matters: A 44% projected share would put Saxony-Anhalt on track to host the first far-right state government in postwar German history, with CDU support halving and AfD support doubling versus 2021. Merz's six-month-old coalition now confronts a party polling first nationally that German intelligence agencies have classified as right-wing extremist.
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