By Russia Today | Created at 2026-09-07 13:10:12 | Updated at 2026-09-07 13:42:48
36 minutes ago
The right-wing AfD took 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, as Chancellor Friedrich Merz saw his party’s support collapse
The opposition right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party could join forces with the left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) after its landslide election win in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, RT contributor Rachel Marsden has said.
The AfD won 43.8% of the vote in Sunday’s regional election, leaving German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) far behind in second place at 17.5%. However, the right-wing party claimed 39 out of 97 seats in the local legislature, falling short of a governing majority.
Speaking to RT on Monday, Marsden pointed out that Saxony-Anhalt is “one of the AFD’s strongest states. So, no, it’s not like Germany has suddenly undergone some kind of mass political conversion.”
“The AFD winning here was fully expected and now the party has to work out what to actually do with all those votes... Now, the anti-establishment left BSW party is hovering around 5%, potentially making the coalition arithmetic rather uncomfortable for the [establishment] parties that have spent years insisting that there would be no cooperation with the AfD,” she said.
The AfD and BWS might sit on the different sides of the political spectrum, but their positions overlap in many areas, especially when it comes to urging dialogue with Russia and resisting the growing influence of EU bureaucrats in Brussels, Marsden stressed.
“There’s also the possibility that the AfD would refuse to work with anybody in favor of just kind of rolling the dice and hoping that nobody can form a coalition government,” which would lead to a new election, giving the right-wing party another chance of calming enough votes to govern Saxony-Anhalt alone, she added.
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