The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the elections in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, in eastern Germany, held on September 6, according to projections by the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF. The party achieved between 44% and 44.5% of the votes, becoming the most voted in the former state of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
However, AfD may still have to wait to govern the region, since, even with this result, the party is expected to win 39 seats in the regional parliament, but 42 votes are needed to obtain an absolute majority, which would be an unprecedented feat for a far-right party in Germany.
The CDU party of conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz achieved 18.5% of the votes, coming in second place. The results of the other parties include The Left with 9.5%, the Greens with 9.0%, the SPD with 8.0%, and the left-wing populist party BSW with 5%, exactly at the minimum threshold to enter the state parliament.
The liberal party FDP is expected to be left out of the state parliament, receiving only 2.0% of the votes. The projections were cited by the polling institute Infratest Dimap and public television ARD.
