Is Germany's far-right party gaining political power?

Germany's AfD has been polling well and is projected to do strongly in Saxony-Anhalt, with reports describing the party as being "on the brink of power" there. Chancellor Friedrich Merz is reportedly preparing countermeasures, including cutting state funding and building a cross-party "firewall" with left-wing parties to keep AfD figures out of sensitive intelligence briefings [1]. This points to AfD gaining electoral ground rather than actually taking power, as mainstream parties are actively working to block it from governing.