
4 days · 5 summary articles
Polls show the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leading with 42 percent support ahead of Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) trails at 22 percent, according to an Infratest Dimap survey published by ARD. The Left party follows with 11 percent, the Social Democrats (SPD) with 8 percent, and the Greens with 6 percent .
Merz warned in an ARD interview that a victory for AfD could cause “considerable damage” to Saxony-Anhalt, deterring foreign investors. “I cannot imagine international investors attending a groundbreaking ceremony with an AfD state premier to build new factories in Saxony-Anhalt,” he said . The chancellor also blamed former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migration policies for the rise of AfD, stating that her open-border decisions were wrong even by the standards of the time .
AfD’s state leader, Ulrich Siegmund, has set a target of “45 percent plus X,” while party co-leader Alice Weidel declared in a ZDF interview that AfD is “on the path to victory” in Saxony-Anhalt and will form the government. She added that an AfD-led state administration would mark a “normalization” of the party’s role in German politics . AfD leaders, including co-chair Tino Chrupalla and Thuringia branch head Björn Höcke, have framed the election as a test of the party’s ability to govern, with Chrupalla stating that Siegmund would face “huge responsibility” and “must deliver” if elected .
The CDU’s state campaign has distanced itself from Merz’s federal leadership. Spitzenkandidat Sven Schulze, the current state premier, has kept his distance from Berlin during the campaign, and party insiders suggest he would blame federal CDU leaders for any poor result . All major parties in Saxony-Anhalt have ruled out post-election coalitions with AfD, whose regional branch is classified as a proven right-wing extremist group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency .
A survey of 65 economic development officials by the German Economic Institute found that over 80 percent view AfD’s rise as a risk to their locations, with none seeing it as an opportunity . Saxony-Anhalt, home to 2.1 million people, has been governed by the CDU since 2002.
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