Escalation: Afd Wins Historic Victory in Saxony-Anhalt

AfD won 43.8 percent in Saxony-Anhalt, its best result to date. It secured 39 of 83 seats, three short of an outright majority. The CDU fell to 17.2 percent and 15 seats, roughly half its 2021 support.

All other parties said they will not govern with AfD, which the state’s domestic intelligence service classifies as extremist. The arithmetic is tight: AfD holds 39 seats, the CDU, SPD, Greens and Left hold 39 combined, and the new BSW has 5. BSW said it would not elect either AfD’s Ulrich Siegmund or CDU incumbent Sven Schulze, but a lead candidate also floated abstaining in a third-round vote for state leader, where only votes cast count.

The CDU’s Sven Schulze resigned as the party’s state chairman after the result. Bundestag member Sepp Müller said he will run to replace him after saying before the vote that Siegmund would have a mandate to try to form a government, comments that drew criticism from party leaders.

AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources