Russia hails AfD ‘historic win’ as party falls short of majority

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, an eastern German state, falling three seats short of an absolute majority in the 83-seat legislature. AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund thanked Elon Musk on X after the tech billionaire wrote “Well done!” in German to AfD co-founder Alice Weidel.

The result represents the strongest showing by a far-right party in a post-war German state election. If the AfD can assemble a governing coalition, it would become the first party of its kind to lead a German state government since the defeat of Nazism at the end of World War II. The mainstream parties’ “firewall” — their refusal to coalition with the AfD — means the party cannot govern alone despite winning the largest share of seats.

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised the result as a “historic win for the pragmatic AfD” after sharing a screenshot of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post, which displayed the election projection without comment. The AfD is pro-Kremlin, urging a stop to support for Ukraine and pushing for Ukrainians in Germany to no longer receive refugee status.

During its campaign, the AfD sought to capitalize on a mood of nostalgia for the communist East Germany and discontent among east Germans. The party’s platform promised a “remigration and deportation offensive,” a ban on rainbow flags in schools, a halt to new wind farm construction, a change of the state slogan from “Think Modern” to “Think German,” and the reintroduction of singing the national anthem in schools.

The AfD was seeking an absolute majority in the 83-member legislature to govern alone and break through the so-called “firewall” of mainstream parties. Final results showed the party winning 39 of the 83 seats — three short of the threshold that would have allowed it to rule without coalition partners.

MSI previously reported on September 4 that the AfD held a comfortable lead in Saxony-Anhalt state polls ahead of Sunday’s vote, with Siegmund having built a TikTok following nearly half the size of the state’s eligible voters through videos filmed from his back porch. Sunday’s result translated that lead into the party’s strongest post-war state showing, though the three-seat shortfall leaves the mainstream parties’ “firewall” intact.