German region votes in election that could bring first far-right state governor to power

MAGDEBURG, Germany -- An eastern German region voted Sunday in an election that could bring to power the first far-right state government in the nation’s post-World War II history.The vote for the state legislature in Saxony-Anhalt, a region of 2.1 million people west of Berlin, has gained outsized prominence because it represents the best chance yet of a governor’s post for the far-right, anti-migration Alternative for Germany, or AfD. That would be the biggest prize in the party’s 13-year history, at a time when there’s widespread discontent with an unpopular national government that has yet to persuade voters it can get the country’s sluggish economy moving. It would be at least a symbolic blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose center-right party has led Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years.AfD is the biggest opposition party in Germany’s national parliament and is strongest in the formerly communist and less prosperous east, where Saxony-Anhalt is located. Its candidate for governor, Ulrich Siegmund, declares that “we will write history here.”Despite consistently strong support, though, its chances of taking power are uncertain even if it finishes well ahead of its opponents.On Sunday,...