The Alternative for Germany won 43.8 percent in Saxony-Anhalt on 6 September 2026, nearly doubling its share. It still did not win a majority of seats.
The party took 38 of the 41 single-member constituencies. The Left won the other three, in Halle II, Halle III and Magdeburg II. For a state of just over 1.7 million eligible voters, the contest drew unusual attention, in part because polls had raised the prospect of an AfD government under an absolute majority. That would have been a first in Germany.
The Christian Democrats, who govern the state and have been its largest party since 2002, lost more than half their previous vote and finished on 17.2 percent. Their coalition partner the Free Democrats lost every seat. The SPD edged up to 9.3 percent. The Greens had their best result in the state, 8.9 percent, a gain of 3.0 points, and came first on second votes in the Halle III constituency. The Left slipped to 8.6 percent. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance cleared the 5 percent threshold, though only just.
Turnout reached 77.8 percent, a record, against 60 percent at the last election in 2021. Because the AfD’s result was large enough to avoid overhang seats, the Landtag matched its nominal size of 83 for the first time.
The candidate
Ulrich Siegmund, a Landtag member since 2016, led the AfD ticket after winning 98.3 percent of votes at a party conference in Magdeburg. Der Spiegel put a mug-shot style photo of him on its 13 August cover and called him “the most dangerous man in Germany.” Siegmund signed copies and used the cover in his campaign. According to a post-election survey by Infratest dimap, quoted by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, four in ten AfD voters said they chose the party because of him.
Its campaign centred on tighter immigration controls, including a proposed “deportation and remigration offensive,” and on reversing the energy transition in favour of fossil fuels and nuclear power. Germany’s domestic intelligence service has classified the state branch as a confirmed right-wing extremist movement since 2023, and every other major party refuses to work with it.
Forming a government
The previous coalition of the CDU, SPD and FDP was voted out. Forty-two seats make a majority. The Böll Foundation expects “an extremely difficult process of forming a government,” and says the AfD, no longer insisting on a majority of its own, is open to a coalition or firm cooperation agreement with the BSW. Sven Schulze, who became minister-president in January 2026, led the CDU into the vote.
Voters cited rising prices as a worry. In the same survey, 70 percent said they felt overwhelmed by price rises and 58 percent said their standard of living was under threat.
Sources
- 2026 Saxony-Anhalt state election – Wikipedia
- 2026 Saxony-Anhalt state election | Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Brussels office – European Union
- Saxony-Anhalt State Election: Results & Seat Distribution
