Chancellor Friedrich Merz ruled out cooperation with the Alternative for Germany on Monday after the far-right party came out on top in the Saxony-Anhalt state elections, but he admitted the result had shaken his party “to its very core.”
The AfD is asking Merz’s conservative lawmakers to support its bid to govern the eastern state, marking the first time a far-right party has come to power at state level in post-war Germany.
The anti-immigrant and pro-Russian AfD won nearly 44% of the vote, a result that underscored the deep unpopularity of Merz’s governing coalition and also raised alarm among neighbors Germany, France, Poland and elsewhere.
But the party, which wants to deport immigrants, end support for Ukraine and restore ties with Moscow, fell short of an outright majority in the state Legislature, with 39 of 83 seats, and is hoping to lure away individual conservative lawmakers.
The election result could test the long-standing refusal of Germany’s main parties, including Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), to cooperate with the AfD. This policy is known as a “firewall”. The AfD says this is undemocratic.
“This shakes our party to its very foundations,” Merz said, according to newspaper. “We are all deeply shocked,” he added later at a news conference, calling the result his party’s worst election performance in decades.
Expressing himself as humble and promising to try harder to connect with voters, Merz rejected suggestions of his resignation, saying he would generally stick to his government’s reform agenda.
Merz, whose own ratings have fallen to record lows, faces new government elections in the coming weeks and next year, although he hopes his combination of reforms and increased spending in some areas will revive growth in Europe’s largest economy.
Believing that Moscow had welcomed the AfD’s victory, Merz characterized the current political moment as a struggle for the survival of Western values.
He also defended a decision last year to borrow hundreds of billions of euros for defense spending, saying the unity of the NATO alliance was at stake.
“Giving up is not an option for me,” he said.
AfD national co-chair Tino Chrupalla called on CDU lawmakers to make a “center-right conservative majority” possible in Saxony-Anhalt.
“Guerrilla games really should be a thing of the past,” he told German radio, referring to firewall policies.
The only German party that has declared a willingness to work with the AfD is the left-wing populist party BSW.
BSW shares the AfD’s hostility to mass immigration, which it says undermines the rights of local workers, and also advocates ending German support for Ukraine and restoring ties with Moscow.
Both sides characterize sanctions on Russia as unnecessary self-sabotage, denying German businesses access to Russia’s vast, cheap energy resources on which Germany’s export-oriented economy has been able to prosper for decades.
According to broadcaster ARD, “peace in Europe” was the second most important factor influencing how people voted in Saxony-Anhalt. However, Merz told reporters that the AfD’s success was no reason to change course.
“I will not budge one millimeter from my fundamental belief that we must defend our freedom, especially now, from Russia,” he said.
“If we stop supporting Ukraine, the situation will not improve by tomorrow, but will only get worse. The Russian leadership seeks to destabilize the value system that underlies what we once called “the West,” a value system that is not negotiable.”
During the election campaign, the AfD took advantage of growing disenchantment with existing parties, which it characterizes as tired and out of touch, by instead offering a series of tough policies, promises of cleaner and safer streets and a revival of national pride.
Some feel nostalgic for life in former communist East Germany.
According to the voter distribution, the AfD was particularly popular among men, with 50% voting for the party compared to 39% of women. AfD voters also tended to be less economically secure and less educated.
Saxony-Anhalt is a relatively small state and one of the poorest in Germany’s former communist east, but Alice Weidel, the AfD’s other national co-chair, called Sunday’s result a major milestone and said her party aims to win at least 40% of the vote in the next national election in 2029.
The local branch of Germany’s domestic intelligence service has classified the AfD as right-wing extremist, but it rejects accusations of extremism as fearmongering and an insult to the party’s millions of supporters.
While far-right leaders in Europe hailed the result as a mandate for change and US billionaire Elon Musk has backed the AfD from the sidelines, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told RTL radio it “sends a very, very worrying signal”.
“This shows that we face a serious challenge in the face of a populist wave that is spreading across the world today and which we must confront,” said Lescure, whose own country will hold national elections next year in which far-right veteran Marine Le Pen could become French president.