German chancellor rules out cooperation with far-right AfD ahead of Saxony-Anhalt vote

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German chancellor rules out cooperation with far-right AfD ahead of Saxony-Anhalt vote
Police raid homes of AfD candidates in five German states over banned neo-Nazi group ties
AfD leads by 20 points in Saxony-Anhalt poll ahead of state election: CDU trails in televised debate
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday categorically ruled out cooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany party ahead of next month’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt, stating that the AfD’s positions differ so fundamentally from his Christian Democratic Union that no compromises are possible .
The AfD leads polls in Saxony-Anhalt with 42 percent support, according to an Infratest dimap survey for ARD, while the CDU trails at 22 percent. The Left holds 11 percent, the SPD 8 percent, and the Greens 6 percent, with BSW and FDP below the 5 percent threshold needed to enter the state parliament .
Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, warned that AfD politicians in Saxony-Anhalt, including lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund and deputy Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, are “declared enemies of our open society” and seek radical policy shifts that would abandon post-war democratic consensus. Schuster urged democratic parties to address voter concerns but reject any cooperation with the AfD, which he described as right-wing extremist .
Sahra Wagenknecht, co-founder of the BSW party, said parts of the federal government are “right-wing extremist” for pursuing authoritarian policies and military expansion, while arguing the AfD’s positions must be engaged with rather than ignored. She criticized Merz’s credibility and called for an end to the “firewall idiocy” against the AfD, which she described as the only “people’s party” in eastern Germany .
The AfD’s Saxony-Anhalt branch has been classified as “confirmed right-wing extremist” by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, citing numerous anti-Muslim, racist, and antisemitic statements by its officials. The party is challenging the classification in court .
In a separate development, a Serbian firm linked to AfD city councilor Andreas Maul was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2025 for aiding a Russia-based cybercrime group. Maul, a Kazakh-born German citizen, co-founded Smart Digital Ideas D.O.O. in Belgrade in 2022 and became an AfD councilor in Selm, Germany, in November 2025. The U.S. Treasury stated the company helped Aeza Group evade sanctions by providing infrastructure for cybercrime operations .
The Left party in Saxony-Anhalt has signaled openness to tolerating a CDU-led government after the Sept. 6 election, though it demands policy concessions. CDU incumbent Sven Schulze currently governs the state .
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