Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) scored a sweeping victory in Sunday's election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, more than doubling its support and delivering a major setback to Chancellor Friedrich Merz's centre-right CDU. The party, however, fell short of securing enough seats to govern on its own, reported AFP.
With the count still underway, AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund celebrated the result. "We have made history today," the 35-year-old said.
Projections from public broadcasters ARD and ZDF put the AfD at 44 percent, compared with roughly 18 percent for the CDU. State premier Sven Schulze described the result as "a severe blow" and is expected to remain as caretaker leader while parties attempt to form a new government.
The outcome leaves the AfD facing a significant obstacle to taking power. All major German parties have pledged to maintain a "firewall" against cooperation with the AfD, whose Saxony-Anhalt branch has been classified as "right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
AfD national co-leader Alice Weidel, a longtime critic of the "firewall" as undemocratic, nevertheless hailed the election result as "sensational." She said the party had "received a very clear mandate to govern" in the state.
Despite its commanding lead, the AfD won slightly less than half of the seats in the state parliament. The CDU had hoped to remain in government through a broad coalition, but a partnership with the centre-left SPD, Greens and far-left Die Linke would still leave it without a majority.
An AfD-led state government would mark a historic development in Germany, where political leaders have long sought to keep extremist movements from power because of the country's Nazi past and the Holocaust.
The party, which was formed in 2013, has repeatedly faced controversy over statements concerning Germany's Nazi past and the Holocaust. In February 2017, AfD leader Björn Höcke sparked widespread condemnation after suggesting that Germany should abandon its decades-long practice of confronting and atoning for its Nazi history.
The following year, AfD chairman Alexander Gauland described the Nazi period as a "speck of bird poo in over 1,000 years of successful German history". Gauland had previously said that Jews should not be afraid of the AfD's strong electoral performance and said he was prepared to meet German Jewish leaders “at any time."
Responding to Sunday’s results, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews, said, "I am personally appalled by this election result."
Schuster had previously warned that large numbers of Jews could leave the country if AfD enters a future government.