Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party has won a historic victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, coming closer than any far-right party has to taking power in a German state since World War II. Final results showed the AfD winning 43.8% of the vote and 39 seats in the 83-member legislature, three short of an absolute majority.
The result is a major blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, which lost about half its support in a state it had led for more than two decades. But mainstream parties have ruled out working with the AfD, leaving it unclear whether the party can actually govern.
The AfD campaigned on a hard anti-migration platform, including talk of “remigration,” a politically charged term often used to describe deporting immigrants. Its Saxony-Anhalt branch has been classified as a proven right-wing extremist group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, though the party rejects accusations of extremism.
The vote marks another sign of Europe’s growing shift to the right, as more voters turn away from mainstream parties in search of change. But what is driving this political turn, and why are so many young Europeans in particular being drawn to the far right? Click through and find out more.