Germany’s beleaguered chancellor said on Monday that he was “deeply shocked” by the far-right AfD party’s historic election victory over the weekend, claiming it would have an international impact.
Friedrich Merz said he took personal responsibility for the result in Saxony-Anhalt, where the buoyed anti-immigration party snapped up 43% of the vote - just short of an absolute majority - as his centre-right CDU slumped to just 17%.
He said it was impossible to return to “business as usual” after such a “seismic” defeat, but nevertheless insisted that “giving up is not an option” when asked what it would take for him to step down.
In order to regain public trust, Merz - who has become the most unpopular chancellor in modern German history after only 15 months in the role - said the government would have to “demonstrate that the path we chose last year … is the right one”.
“This shakes our party to its very foundations. We cannot simply carry on as before, nor can I, nor can the federal government,” he said, according to the Bild newspaper.
“We have a strong constitution; we have all the tools to defend the constitution against a right-wing extremist state government — but our party system is undergoing a tectonic shift.”
Merz on Monday also signalled he would not deviate “even a millimeter” from his support for Ukraine, despite the AfD’s campaign pledging to restore ties with Moscow and cut support for Kyiv.
In an increasingly polarised political system, Merz, whose personal approval ratings have sunk to record lows, was one of the main targets of voter anger over the cost of living, pensions and economic insecurity.
Merz came to power in 2025, pledging tough reforms to revive the economy. He abandoned decades of fiscal caution by promising to borrow hundreds of billions of euros to restore Germany's withered military and rebuild infrastructure.
But voters, particularly in eastern Germany, have given him no credit for the plans, which have so far produced few visible results.
The AfD has said it sees victory in Saxony-Anhalt as a first step towards winning federal elections due in 2029 but there was no immediate sign of any internal revolt against Merz in the party committees that met on Monday, CDU sources said.
Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s leader in the state, called their win “sensational”, adding that they would like to form a state government as soon as possible.
Tino Chrupalla, the national leader of the AfD, claimed that the outcome showed voters were unhappy with the policies of the governing coalition.
The mainstream parties “were voted out, or rather, the voters delivered a clear verdict, and I can only encourage them to recognise that the ‘firewall’ has been definitively rejected by the voters today,” Mr Chrupalla told broadcaster ARD, referring to a strategy of non-cooperation between mainstream parties and the far-right.
It remains unclear whether the party will be able to form its first regional government, in what would be a seismic moment in post-war German history. The moment was described by political commentators as a watershed, with Das Erste TV channel cancelling its popular crime drama Tatort to focus on the outcome.
The party’s victory in the election for the state government represents a historic shift in German politics after years of cooperation between the other parties to keep the hard right out of power.
Most parties have ruled out joining an AfD-led coalition, meaning the makeup of the next government will depend on which other parties pass the 5 per cent threshold needed to gain seats in the regional parliament and whether the CDU could form a majority coalition to block the AfD.
The AfD seeks to restrict immigration, quit the Euro and restore ties with Russia as most of Europe rallies around Ukraine. Germany’s own intelligence service has designated the party as “extremist right wing”.
Mr Siegmund, lead candidate for the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, said that he was open to working with partners following the preliminary results, adding: “We extend a hand to all democratic forces that wish to pursue better policies”. But he also said that topics including migration and domestic security were non-negotiable.
This win is the biggest prize in the party’s 13-year history, at a time of widespread discontent with an unpopular national government that has yet to persuade voters it can get the country’s sluggish economy moving.
Victory for the AfD is also a symbolic blow to Mr Merz, whose centre-right party has led Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years.
A CDU politician has described his party's performance as a "historic defeat" and called it a "black day".
Sepp Muller, deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told German broadcaster ZDF that there can now be "no business as usual".
The AfD national co-leaders, Alice Weidel and Mr Chrupalla, said this week that AfD “wants to implement the law of the land – for example with a view to illegal migration – and ensure that Germany remains worth living in”.
They decried other parties’ records and argued in a statement that an absolute majority for AfD is “almost the only chance to change course”.
Following the poll results on Sunday, Ms Weidel said that the AfD had a clear government mandate and would talk to all parties.
“No matter the outcome of tomorrow’s election, we have already made history,” said Mr Siegmund at a final rally on Saturday evening.
“Because what we have started here in Saxony-Anhalt – that is currently sweeping across all of Germany – can no longer be stopped,” he told the crowd in the state capital, Magdeburg.
The AfD plans to push schools and cultural institutions towards more traditional values, curb immigration and overhaul public broadcasting.
Mr Siegmund arrived to cast his vote in his hometown of Tangermünde on a blue Simson moped, greeted by throngs of excited fans, and ruled out coalition talks with other parties.
An AfD-led state would launch a crackdown on migration with a task force set up to coordinate quicker deportations.
The children of refugees would be placed in separate classes at school to prevent what the party claims are “stresses” on the other children from being around different cultures.
Meanwhile, children with disabilities would no longer be taught in the same classroom as those without, instead being sent to special schools.
Schools would also be banned from flying rainbow flags, and the government would exhaust “all legal avenues” to limit Islamic expression.
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