Elections & Democracy
AfD frontrunner as Saxony-Anhalt votes
Polls opened on Sunday in Saxony-Anhalt, where the far-right Alternative for Germany is the clear frontrunner in a regional election that could give it a path toward its first state government.
About 1.7 million voters in the eastern German state have until 6:00 pm local time to cast ballots, with first projections expected soon after polls close. The AfD has polled above 40 percent for months but is not guaranteed the absolute majority it would need to govern alone.
A ZDF poll released on Thursday put the AfD at 41 percent, ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's centre-right CDU on 23 percent. The centre-left SPD was on 8.5 percent, the Greens on six percent and Die Linke on 11.5 percent, while two smaller parties were below the five-percent threshold for entering parliament.
The state of 2.1 million people is currently led by CDU premier Sven Schulze in coalition with two smaller parties. Schulze hopes to form another multi-party government. All other major parties have maintained a firewall of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose Saxony-Anhalt branch is categorised as right-wing extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
The AfD's top candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, has predicted an absolute majority and said the party would govern alone if others refused to work with it. His campaign promises include what he calls a remigration and deportation offensive, a ban on LGBTQ pride rainbow flags at public schools and an end to new wind farms.
The prospect of an AfD-led state government has alarmed mainstream parties and minority groups. Thousands of AfD opponents rallied in Magdeburg on Saturday, and police were deployed because of fears of clashes after the result.
The German Economic Institute warned that the AfD's immigration policy would be damaging for Saxony-Anhalt, whose population is ageing, shrinking and reliant on foreign-born workers. Germany's parliamentary speaker Julia Kloeckner dismissed AfD-linked rumours of postal vote fraud, saying questioning elections without concrete evidence appeared aimed at sowing distrust in democratic rules.
Update
Polls opened at 8:00 am local time in Saxony-Anhalt.
About 1.7 million voters have until 6:00 pm local time to cast ballots.
First projections were expected soon after polls close.
Source note: AFP news report published on 6 September 2026 at 11:04:51 UTC.
Update
German voters are going to the polls in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday.
A ZDF poll released Thursday put the AfD at 41 percent and the CDU at 23 percent.
The poll put the SPD at 8.5 percent, the Greens at six percent and Die Linke at 11.5 percent, with two smaller parties below the five-percent threshold.
Thousands of AfD opponents joined a rally in Magdeburg on the eve of the vote.
State authorities denied social media claims of mail-vote manipulation at an elderly care home.
Source note: AFP news report published on 6 September 2026 at 01:39:10 UTC.
Update
The Saxony-Anhalt regional election is scheduled for Sunday, September 6, 2026.
The AfD has polled at 40 percent or higher in Saxony-Anhalt for months, while the CDU is reported at 22-24 percent.
The BSW party has signalled it may support the AfD forming a government, while other major parties maintain a non-cooperation firewall.
The item adds possible paths to power, including the role of Germany's five percent parliamentary threshold and possible mainstream-party minority government scenarios.
The election is framed as a test for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has pledged to halt the AfD's rise.
Source note: AFP news report published on 3 September 2026 at 02:59:09 UTC.
Update
Ulrich Siegmund has promised a deportation and remigration drive targeting migrants without settled status.
A Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology analysis said 21 of the AfD's 56 planned migration measures could only be implemented at national or European level.
The AfD wants major changes to Saxony-Anhalt's domestic intelligence agency and has raised the possibility of abolishing it.
Siegmund has said he would cancel the contract governing the regional public broadcaster, though media law experts say the plan would likely face constitutional limits.
The AfD says it would seek to lift the home schooling ban, ban rainbow flags in schools and change curriculum priorities.
Siegmund has proposed birth payments and free meals for children at schools and kindergartens, while acknowledging the measures would cost hundreds of millions of euros.
Source note: AFP news report published on 3 September 2026 at 03:02:53 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
The final result and whether the AfD can win an absolute majority were not known at the time of reporting.
Possible post-election coalition or minority government arrangements depend on the result.
Source
AFP news report published on .