Germany's Far-Right AfD Targets More Gains After Saxony-Anhalt State Win

Politics8 sourcesSep 13, 2026

6 placedFactual rigor 61/100

The Story

Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party seeks to capitalize on its momentum in upcoming elections, starting with municipal voting this weekend.

The AfD's first test comes Sunday in municipal elections in the western state of Lower Saxony. A week later, the party targets state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The AfD won 43.8% of the vote and 39 of 83 state parliament seats in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, falling just short of a majority. This marked Germany’s greatest far-right victory in a state election since World War II.

Polls predict the AfD currently leads other parties in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with about 35% of the vote. In Berlin, the AfD is polling around 20%, jockeying for first place with the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the left-wing Linke. Gideon Botsch, head of the Emil Julius Gumbel Research Unit on Antisemitism and Right-Wing Extremism at Potsdam University, stated the AfD is currently able to mobilize almost totally its own constituency and potential voters.

The AfD is a nationalist, anti-immigrant party whose leaders have proposed rejecting Germany’s guilt complex over the Holocaust. The party has regularly topped nationwide opinion polls for the past year. Its manifesto promises large-scale deportations of immigrants, including naturalized German citizens, under its remigration program. It also seeks to change the history curriculum in schools to teach more Bismarck and less Hitler.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency classified the AfD chapters in Saxony-Anhalt and a neighboring state as right-wing extremist. Tens of thousands of people marched in around 20 cities across Germany on Saturday to protest the rise of the far right after the AfD's victory. Protests were called by Pruef, which advocates for a ban on the AfD.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the CDU remains skeptical about banning the group. Elon Musk congratulated AfD party leader Alice Weidel on X, posting "Gut gemacht!" after the Saxony-Anhalt result.

What they agree on

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won 43.8% of the vote in the Saxony-Anhalt state election on September 6.
This victory marked Germany's greatest far-right win in a state election since World War II.
The AfD is now targeting upcoming municipal elections in Lower Saxony and state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Tens of thousands of people protested across Germany on Saturday against the rise of the far-right AfD.
The AfD is described as a nationalist, anti-immigrant party whose leaders have proposed rejecting Germany’s "guilt complex" over the Holocaust.

Where they split

The Forward and Time focus on the AfD's political agenda and its historical context, including its manifesto and classification as extremist, while France 24 and The Local Germany emphasize the public protests against the party.
The Guardian Australia highlights Elon Musk's reaction to the AfD's victory, including his posts on X and his perceived symbiotic relationship with the party, a detail not present in all other articles.
The Independent includes a personal account from a Syrian German citizen about experiencing racist abuse after the election, providing a human interest perspective on the AfD's rise.
Deutsche Welle provides a roundup of top stories from Germany, including a humorous anecdote about a hiker mistaking rutting deer for bears, which is unrelated to the AfD story but included in its broader coverage.