Alternative for Germany Takes 44.5% in Saxony-Anhalt and Falls Three Seats Short of a Majority

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt with 44.5% of the vote against 18.5% for the Christian Democratic Union, according to exit polling broadcast by the German public broadcaster ARD. Final results left the party with 39 lawmakers in an 83-member parliament, three seats short of a majority, The Hindu reported. Turnout reached 77.8%, the Russian outlet BFM reported, a high figure for a German state election.

The party's lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, is 35 and was previously a member of the Christian Democratic Union. He has said he intends to become minister-president of the state, Euronews reported. Every other party in the chamber has so far refused to enter a coalition with the AfD, which means a government can only be formed by combining parties that together won less than the winner did.

The Financial Times described the result as the party becoming the largest force in the state while falling short of a parliamentary majority. Russian and German coverage agreed on the numbers and diverged on the framing, with Moscow outlets presenting the outcome as evidence of European voters rejecting their governments' policy on Ukraine and energy, and German public broadcasters emphasising the refusal of other parties to cooperate with the AfD.

For investors, the significance lies less in this one state than in the numbers themselves. Saxony-Anhalt is small, but a party polling in the mid-forties in any German state changes the calculation behind federal coalition building, energy policy, and German support for European Union spending programmes.