The extreme right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has won a decisive victory in a regional election in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, gaining nearly 44% of the vote. However, it fell just short of the outright majority needed to govern alone, so negotiations are underway to determine who will run the state.

One small party, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), stands as possible kingmaker. Formed in 2024 by high-profile figures who broke away from the radical left-wing Die Linke, the BSW won five seats in Saxony-Anhalt’s parliament. During the election campaigns, BSW founder and eponymy Sahra Wagenknecht signalled an openness to work with the AfD in the state.

She remarked in August that the BSW’s election goal was “to remove the incumbent Christian Democratic Union minister [Sven Schulze]” and “end this firewall idiocy”. Germany’s mainstream political parties have long refused to work or form coalitions with the radical right. This is known as the “firewall”.

On election night itself, the lead candidate for the BSW in Saxony-Anhalt, Claudia Wittig, stopped short of endorsing the AfD’s Ulrich Siegmund as minister president. But she said: “there are, of course, projects that we can very well imagine doing with the AfD”. She made these remarks in a television broadcast while stood beside the AfD’s leader, Alice........

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