Elon Musk and Europe’s hard right figures hail AfD’s ‘historic’ election win in German state as leader predicts Chancellor Merz will fall by Christmas
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Germany's ruling coalition has been left reeling after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) won a landslide in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, a result that has rattled political leaders across Europe. Chancellor Friedrich Merz admitted he was "deeply shocked" by the scale of his Christian Democratic Union's (CDU) defeat and said "deep reforms" were now needed, while the outcome fuelled fears elsewhere that the hard right is closing in on power for the first time since the Second World War.
The AfD took nearly 44 per cent of the vote, more than double its 2020 tally, while the CDU collapsed to just 17 per cent, its worst result in decades, though the AfD narrowly missed the outright majority needed to govern alone. The vote drew reaction well beyond Germany: Elon Musk praised the result on X, allies of French President Emmanuel Macron called for moderate parties to unite behind a single candidate before France's 2027 presidential election, Poland's Donald Tusk branded AfD sympathisers "idiots or traitors", and Spain's Pedro Sánchez warned of a growing "extremist threat" worldwide.
- Sources
- 3
- Outlets
- 3
- Left · Centre · Right
- 0 · 1 · 2
In short
- AfD won nearly 44% in Saxony-Anhalt, doubling its 2020 result
- Merz's CDU crashed to 17%, its worst defeat in decades
- European leaders, including Tusk and Sánchez, voiced alarm at the result
How this story developed
- 2 months ago Germany's ruling coalition has been thrown into turmoil after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) won a landslide victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, prompting Chancellor Friedrich Merz to admit he was "deeply shocked" and warn that "deep reforms" are now needed.
- 2 months ago Germany's ruling coalition has been left reeling after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) won a landslide in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, a result that has rattled political leaders across Europe.
- 2 months ago Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has provoked international reaction after topping the poll in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8 per cent of the vote, more than double its 2020 result and far ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on 17.2 per cent.
- 2 months ago Elon Musk and other hard-right figures across Europe celebrated after Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) recorded its strongest-ever result in a state election, topping the poll in Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8 per cent of the vote, far ahead of the ruling Christian Democratic Union's (CDU) 17.2 per cent.
- BBC World Germany's far-right AfD says 'democracy demands' parties work with them after state election win
- The Hill German far-right party candidate thanks Musk after state election win
- Daily Mail Elon Musk and Europe’s hard right figures hail AfD’s ‘historic’ election win in German state as leader predicts Chancellor Merz will fall by Christmas
Full account
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won a commanding victory in Sunday's state election in Saxony-Anhalt, taking 43.8% of the vote and more than doubling its showing from five years ago, in a result that hard-right figures across Europe seized on as historic. Preliminary and near-final counts put the party well clear of the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which slumped to 17.2%, while the centre-left Social Democrats (9.3%), the Greens (8.9%) and the Left Party (8.6%) trailed far behind. The outcome brings a far-right party closer to governing a German state than at any point since the Second World War, though the AfD narrowly missed the outright majority it had been chasing.
On the latest figures the AfD is on course for 39 seats in the 83-seat state parliament, three short of the 42 needed to govern alone in the state of roughly 2.1 million people. Analysts and reporters have linked the party's strength in Saxony-Anhalt to lingering nostalgia for aspects of life in the former East Germany and to economic grievances that many in the region feel have never been resolved since reunification in 1990. The left-wing populist BSW, which campaigned on a tough immigration stance and support for resuming Russian gas imports, looks set to take around five seats and could yet play a role in what happens next.
The result was quickly celebrated well beyond Germany. Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk posted a brief message of congratulations, while Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and leader of the hard-right League, declared that 'another Europe is possible'. Within the AfD, co-leader Alice Weidel described the outcome as 'a very clear mandate to govern' and said the party's platform put German interests first rather than those of Ukraine or other countries. She went further in predicting national consequences, saying she expected early federal elections and forecasting that Chancellor Friedrich Merz would be 'replaced before Christmas'. The party's Saxony-Anhalt frontman, Ulrich Siegmund, echoed the claim to a clear mandate, while deputy parliamentary leader Beatrix von Storch argued that rivals could not simply ignore the scale of the vote and warned that refusing to negotiate risked 'severe chaos' and possibly a fresh election.
With a majority out of reach, attention has turned to how Saxony-Anhalt will actually be governed. Nearly every other party maintains a long-standing 'firewall' refusing formal cooperation with the AfD, so the party says it has begun quietly sounding out individual lawmakers, including CDU members reportedly unhappy with their own leadership, in the hope of assembling informal backing or persuading the BSW to tolerate a minority AfD government. Talks were said to have started the night of the result and could take days or weeks to resolve. The stakes are significant: control of the state would hand the AfD influence over policing and education policy. The contest also carries wider echoes of the AfD's 2024 breakthrough in neighbouring Thuringia, where it topped the poll but likewise fell short of power, and comes as the party leads national opinion polls ahead of Merz's conservatives and the Social Democrats. Germany's domestic intelligence service classifies the Saxony-Anhalt AfD as 'right-wing extremist', a designation Siegmund rejects, and the party's platform includes a 'remigration' policy widely understood to mean large-scale deportation of migrants.
Where outlets differ
From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:
The Mail's account foregrounds international hard-right reaction — Musk's 'Well done!' post and Salvini's 'another Europe is possible' comment — and leads on Weidel's prediction that Merz will be gone by Christmas; the BBC report does not mention Musk or Salvini at all.
The BBC gives much more detail on the mechanics of coalition-building, including von Storch's outreach to disaffected CDU lawmakers, the possibility of tacit BSW support for a minority government, and her warning of 'severe chaos' or a fresh election if rivals refuse to negotiate — detail largely absent from the Mail piece.
Only the BBC notes that Germany's domestic intelligence service classifies the Saxony-Anhalt AfD as 'right-wing extremist' (a label Siegmund disputes) and explains the AfD's 'remigration' policy, giving a more critical/contextual framing than the Mail's more celebratory tone.
The BBC places the result in the context of the AfD's earlier near-miss in Thuringia in 2024 and its lead in national polls, while the Mail emphasises the historical 'nostalgia for East Germany' and post-reunification economic frustration explanation for the AfD's regional strength.
Centre outlets 1
- Germany's far-right AfD says 'democracy demands' parties work with them after state election winBBC World
Only here: germany, democracy, demands, parties, work
Right-leaning outlets 2
- Elon Musk and Europe’s hard right figures hail AfD’s ‘historic’ election win in German state as leader predicts Chancellor Merz will fall by ChristmasDaily Mail
- German far-right party candidate thanks Musk after state election winThe Hill
Only here: musk, german, elon, europe, hard
Every side used: right, state, election
Headline columns compared word for word; nothing in them is AI-written.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters of the result argue that it reflects a genuine and legitimate expression of voter frustration in eastern Germany with mainstream parties over immigration, economic stagnation and a sense that ordinary concerns have been ignored for years. They contend that dismissing such a large share of the electorate as extremist is itself corrosive to democracy, and that voters are entitled to have their preferences taken seriously in coalition talks rather than automatically excluded by a political "firewall" imposed from above. For many who welcome the outcome, it signals a healthy, if uncomfortable, democratic correction that established parties must now address rather than ignore.
The case against
Critics argue that the AfD's designation by German intelligence as a suspected extremist group, linked to the use of Nazi-era slogans and Holocaust minimisation, places it in a different category from ordinary opposition parties, and that Germany's post-war commitment to militant democracy exists precisely to prevent such movements from gaining institutional power again. They see the cross-party refusal to form a coalition with the AfD not as anti-democratic exclusion but as a principled defence of constitutional norms and minority protections that a bare electoral plurality should not override. For those alarmed by the result, celebration from figures like Elon Musk and predictions of the chancellor's imminent fall represent a troubling normalisation of hard-right politics across Europe rather than a cause for democratic reassurance.
Explained simply
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is a party that campaigns on tighter immigration controls, cutting public spending and scepticism towards the European Union. It began in 2013 as an anti-euro group and has since moved further right, with German intelligence classing it as a "suspected" extremist organisation, a designation the party disputes. It has been steadily gaining support, particularly in the states of the former East Germany.
Saxony-Anhalt is one of Germany's sixteen federal states, and its state elections are watched closely as a barometer of the AfD's national standing ahead of any future federal vote. Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), became German Chancellor earlier in 2025 heading a coalition government, and strong AfD results in individual states put pressure on his position nationally even though state and federal elections are separate contests. Alice Weidel co-leads the AfD and has become its most prominent national spokesperson.
The story also involves reaction from figures outside Germany, including the billionaire Elon Musk and hard-right politicians elsewhere in Europe, reflecting how European populist and nationalist parties often express solidarity with one another across borders. Mainstream German parties have so far refused to form governments with the AfD, a stance often referred to as a "firewall", which is why strong AfD results tend to produce complicated coalition negotiations rather than the party taking power outright.
Coverage · 3 sources
Bias meters
From 3 rated sources.
- Daily MailRightElon Musk and Europe’s hard right figures hail AfD’s ‘historic’ election win in German state as leader predicts Chancellor Merz will fall by Christmas
- BBC WorldCentreGermany's far-right AfD says 'democracy demands' parties work with them after state election win
- The HillRightGerman far-right party candidate thanks Musk after state election win
Art Culture Elections Europe Politics World