Far-right party leads eastern Germany election
The Alternative for Germany has its sights on winning its first-ever state government.
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The Alternative for Germany has its sights on winning its first-ever state government.
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BERLIN (AFP) — German voters headed to the polls Sunday for a crucial regional election in the ex-communist east where the far-right, anti-immigration and Moscow-friendly AfD is expected to win easily.
The Alternative for Germany, polling at over 40 percent for months in Saxony-Anhalt, even has its sights on winning its first-ever state government, although this is far from assured.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. local time and some 1.7 million voters have until 6 p.m. to cast their ballots, with first projections expected shortly after.
The small state is now ruled by the center-right CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz in coalition with two smaller parties, and its state premier Sven Schulze hopes to build again a multi-party coalition to cling to power.
All other major parties have so far maintained a "firewall" of non-cooperation with the AfD, whose Saxony-Anhalt branch is categorized as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
The AfD's top candidate Ulrich Siegmund — a telegenic 35-year-old who is feted like a rock star at campaign events and has a large social media following — has confidently predicted gaining an absolute majority.
"It was the others who erected the firewalls," he told Bild daily. "If no one wants to work with us, then we'll just have to do it alone."
Such a scenario would shake Germany, a country that has long been at pains to atone for its dark history in World War II and the Holocaust and which has so far kept extremist parties in check.
A strong AfD win would also heap pressure on Merz, who has vowed to reboot a stagnant economy and restrict irregular immigration, but has seen his party beaten by the AfD in national surveys too.
"If the AfD wins in Saxony-Anhalt, Merz's critics will become even more vocal, and calls for better leadership will become impossible to ignore," said political scientist Wolfgang Schroeder of Kassel University.
However, Schroeder also said he does not expect Merz to be ousted, given the current absence of a strong rival candidate: "As far as I can see, there is no alternative chancellor."
