AfD claims landslide victory in German regional election | 7 Sep 2026 | The opposition right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has won Sunday’s regional election in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote, the local election commission has said. The AfD is set to claim 39 out of 97 seats in the local legislature, falling short of a governing majority. The vote was marked by a record turnout of 78%, the highest since the reunification of Germany in 1990. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party finished in a poor second, securing just over 17.2% of the vote and 15 seats, according to official preliminary results. AfD lead candidate in the state, Ulrich Siegmund, said the party has “written history” and that the outcome of the vote would “shake all of Germany.”