AfD Wins Saxony-Anhalt Vote as Coalition Uncertainty Hits German Politics

The state election in Saxony-Anhalt delivered a clear first-place finish for Alternative for Germany, but not a clear governing majority, setting up a complex political negotiation with potential implications for German policy risk, energy debate and regional economic direction.

According to preliminary official results from the September 6 election to the Landtag, the state parliament of the eastern German federal state, AfD won 43.8% of the vote after ballots from all polling stations were counted. The results were published overnight into Sunday, September 7. The party's candidate for state premier is 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund. AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla has already said Siegmund will put himself forward for the post.

The result marks a sharp reversal for the Christian Democratic Union, the party of incumbent state premier Sven Schulze. The CDU received 17.2%, nearly half its level at the previous election. The Social Democratic Party took 9.3%, the Greens 8.9%, and The Left 8.6%. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, also entered the Landtag with 5.3%. The Free Democratic Party and other parties failed to clear the 5% threshold. Turnout reached 77.8%.

On the new seat count, the 83-member Saxony-Anhalt Landtag will be divided as follows: AfD will receive 39 mandates, the CDU 15, The Left 8, the Greens 8, the SPD 8 and BSW 5. That leaves AfD close to, but short of, a majority, making BSW a potentially decisive force in any governing scenario.

Market Focus Shifts to Coalition Math

For markets, the immediate signal is not only AfD's vote share, but the lack of an obvious majority. The previous governing coalition of the CDU, SPD and FDP suffered a heavy defeat. With the FDP out of parliament, the arithmetic for a centrist continuation has broken down, while most parties entering the new Landtag have ruled out joining a coalition with AfD. BSW is the exception.

A possible minority government made up of the CDU, SPD and Greens, with full support from The Left, would together hold 40 seats, just one more than AfD. In that configuration, BSW lawmakers could become the swing factor. The arrangement would also test CDU discipline, since Schulze repeatedly said before the vote that he did not want to depend on either the right or the left.

The scale of the CDU's electoral setback was underlined by the direct-mandate results. CDU candidates failed to win a single direct mandate, losing in all 41 constituencies. AfD candidates won in 38 constituencies, including Siegmund in Genthin. AfD fell short of a convincing win only in the major cities of Magdeburg and Halle. At the 2021 state election, the CDU had won direct mandates in 40 of 41 constituencies, while AfD won one.

Schulze also lost in his own Magdeburg constituency. The 47-year-old incumbent received 31.7%, behind AfD candidate Christian Mertens, who won 35.2%. Schulze became head of the state government in early 2025 after previously serving as economy minister and as a member of the European Parliament.

Energy and Russia Policy Enter the Negotiations

BSW's posture is now central to the coalition outlook. Thomas Schulze, the lead candidate for the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance in Saxony-Anhalt, said after the election that he was open to talks with the far-right party.

“We stated that we would hold talks with all parties. That includes AfD,” Schulze said, according to dpa.

He added that BSW was not interested in a “firewall” and would speak with all parties. Asked about possible common ground between BSW and AfD, Schulze pointed above all to Russia policy, saying both sides oppose sanctions that, in his words, are literally destroying the economy. Both parties also support what they describe as affordable energy, meaning the resumption of oil and gas supplies from Russia.

That focus gives the negotiations a sector angle, particularly for investors following German energy costs, industrial competitiveness and sanctions exposure. Any debate over Russian energy would remain politically sensitive and would not by itself resolve the majority problem, but it places energy affordability and sanctions policy near the center of the state-level talks.

At the same time, dpa noted that several AfD initiatives are incompatible with BSW's positions. Schulze said AfD's education policy was completely unsuitable for BSW and that the parties were very far apart on that issue. He also said BSW holds a much more socially oriented economic position. BSW has proposed a nonpartisan state premier who would govern with shifting majorities involving AfD.

Siegmund rejected that idea and said AfD would not abandon its values and goals for political games, Reuters reported. He ruled out coalitions requiring major compromises, saying voters should finally get after elections what they voted for. He said cooperation would be possible only with those who support AfD's demand for a clear change of political course in the federal state, either through a parliamentary group or through individual lawmakers.

Chrupalla, speaking on ARD, said AfD was prepared to compromise in talks with other parties, including on migration and economic policy, provided they agreed to a change of course.

CDU Faces Internal Pressure

The CDU's room for maneuver is constrained not only by the parliamentary count, but also by resistance within its own ranks to cooperation with The Left. If Schulze is nominated again for state premier, dissenters could emerge from inside his party.

CDU Landtag member Eva Feußner has already warned in comments to Stern that if there are attempts to cooperate with the left, entire local party branches would unanimously leave the party. That threat highlights the political execution risk surrounding any minority-government scenario.

The election therefore leaves Saxony-Anhalt with a decisive winner but no settled government path. AfD controls the largest bloc with 39 seats, BSW holds only 5 seats but may become pivotal, and the CDU-led camp is weakened by both electoral losses and internal red lines. For market participants tracking Germany, the next signal will come from coalition talks and whether policy bargaining turns toward energy, migration and state economic priorities.