AfD claims landslide victory in Germany’s regional election – preliminary results

The right-wing party came in first with 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU trailing far behind at 17.5% The opposition right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has won Sunday’s regional election in Germany’s eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote, according to official preliminary results. 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, the results indicated.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.”“We are going to get our country back, and we are starting with Saxony-Anhalt,” he said. The Germans have given the AfD their trust and it “will not disappoint them. We will not become like these other parties,” Siegmund added.AfD co-chair Alice Weidel earlier did not rule out forming a coalition government in the region, ...