AfD leads Saxony-Anhalt with 44% in preliminary exit polls

Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged to a commanding lead in the Saxony-Anhalt state vote, winning 44% of the vote in preliminary exit polls, a jump of nearly 24 percentage points compared with the previous regional election.

Coalition math rules out previous government

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) recorded just 18.5% in the early returns, while The Left took 9.5%, the Greens 9% and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) 8%. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) received around 2% and failed to pass the threshold to enter the state parliament, removing the possibility of continuing the CDU–SPD–FDP governing alliance.

AfD had campaigned with the aim of winning an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt and installing its lead candidate, Ulrich Zigmund, as the state premier. The scale of the party's lead in the exit polls puts that ambition within reach and marks a major shift in the regional political landscape.

Almost all other parties with a realistic chance of parliamentary representation had ruled out cooperation with AfD before the vote. That left one of the possible pre-election scenarios: a coalition of CDU, SPD and the Greens, possibly backed by The Left, as a way to keep AfD out of power.

With the FDP excluded from parliament by the preliminary result, the arithmetic for a centre-right or grand-coalition continuation has become unworkable, and political actors in Magdeburg will now need to reassess coalition options in light of AfD's unexpected strength.

Photo: press material from the event