AfD ahead of CDU in Saxony-Anhalt in European elections

According to initial interim results, the AfD could end up with the most votes in the European elections in Saxony-Anhalt. After more than half of the constituencies had been counted, the AfD made significant gains compared to the European elections five years ago and was well ahead of the CDU. The AfD received just under 32.8 percent of the vote, while the CDU received 21.8 percent. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony-Anhalt classifies the AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist party in the state.

The Left Party (-9.6%), SPD (-4.2%), Greens (-5.3%) and FDP (-2.5%) all showed signs of heavy losses in some cases. According to the interim results, the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance can expect a double-digit result of around 14% straight away.

In Saxony-Anhalt, around 1.8 million people were called to vote. After 1700 of the 2579 constituencies were counted, voter turnout was around 53 percent, slightly lower than five years ago.

Prime Minister Haseloff: "This is a very bad day for Germany"

Saxony-Anhalt's AfD state leader Martin Reichardt spoke on Sunday of an outstanding result for his party. Minister President Reiner Haseloff (CDU), on the other hand, emphasized: "The fact that only the CDU can stand up to the AfD in the east is a danger to democracy. The fact that the AfD appears to be the second strongest party in Germany is an alarm signal. This is a very bad day for Germany."

The head of government accused the federal government of taking the wrong course. "The traffic light was punished because it set the wrong priorities," the CDU politician told the German Press Agency. "People want jobs to be secured and the problems of inflation and migration to be solved, not cannabis and sex changes first. The coalition agreement of the traffic light was voted down."

Representatives of the traffic light parties in Saxony-Anhalt were disappointed. "Today's election result is below our expectations," said Saxony-Anhalt SPD state chairpersons Juliane Kleemann and Andreas Schmidt. FDP state leader Lydia Hüskens said that the strengthening of the political fringes was a sign of existing uncertainties. "The FDP must implement the economic turnaround for more dynamism and the initiated asylum turnaround even more consistently. I am sure that approval of the FDP's policies will then rise again."

The co-chair of the Greens in the state, Dennis Helmich, spoke of a disappointing result for the Greens and a renewed slide to the right in eastern Germany. Left Party co-leader Janina Böttger called for an "honest evaluation". "We have a lot of work ahead of us as a party to win back trust," said Böttger. The AfD and BSW had benefited more than the Left from the "traffic light chaos". They had not managed to provide convincing answers, said Böttger.