AfD lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund. Photo by Roy Zuo/Wikimedia Commons.

At first glance, the Alternative for Germany (AfD)’s electoral success in Saxony-Anhalt in the Landtag elections of September 6, 2026, when the party won 43.8 percent of the vote, appears to confirm a familiar pattern: an East German region under economic pressure and a strong right-wing party. However, electoral analyses reveal a more nuanced picture. The AfD is not only gaining ground among those who already identify as politically right-wing. It is also particularly strong among the working class, reaching those who fear social decline and tapping into a widespread sentiment—namely, that the realities of their everyday lives are largely ignored in the political sphere.

In doing so, the AfD intertwines social and regional narratives. Economic insecurity, rising costs, and fears of social decline are linked to a narrative about East Germany in which experiences of disadvantage and political alienation persist. Added to this are migration and internal security as key issues. It is precisely this connection that makes the AfD’s success analytically interesting: it translates diverse forms of discontent into a shared political narrative while simultaneously presenting itself as the ostensible solution to these issues.

The AfD’s electoral success is therefore more than just further evidence of the party’s strength. It demonstrates the extent to which the party has now succeeded in merging social conflicts, East German identity and political disillusionment into a project aimed at gaining political power. With almost 44 percent, it achieved its strongest result in a state election to date. Compared to 2021, it has more than doubled its share of the vote.

Conditions for the AfD’s record win

How did this come about? Three developments are particularly significant: the AfD’s entrenchment outside the major cities; the staging of a self-assured claim to political power centred around its lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund; and the strategic positioning of Saxony-Anhalt as the first step on the path to further electoral gains in German states and, ultimately, to the federal government.

For the AfD, the situation is clear—it has a mandate to govern. As radical as its victory narrative has been in the last months of the election campaign, it now appears to be taking a much more conciliatory approach in its search for partners, seeking to reach out to all other parties that “want to move the state forward” and finally bury the Brandmauer (firewall) the other parties have maintained against cooperation with the AfD. In the coming days, everything will depend on the actions of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance........

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