Merz Calls AfD's Historic Saxony-Anhalt Win a 'Deeply Shocking' Blow to Germany's Political Center

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that he was "deeply shocked" by the far-right Alternative for Germany's landslide victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, calling it the CDU's hardest defeat in decades and warning that the result would carry consequences for German politics well beyond the eastern state.

Speaking in Berlin a day after the vote, Merz told reporters that "yesterday's result has changed not only Saxony-Anhalt, but Germany as a whole," adding that his party had not expected the scale of the loss. The AfD captured roughly 44 per cent of the vote, its strongest showing in any German state election to date, while Merz's Christian Democratic Union collapsed to just over 17 per cent, a result the chancellor described as shaking the party "to its very foundations."

A Historic Result, Short of a Majority

Despite the scale of its win, the AfD fell a handful of seats short of an outright majority in the 83-member state parliament, leaving open the question of whether it can translate its lead into an actual governing mandate. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel hailed the outcome as historic and predicted the CDU would struggle to win future elections as her party's support continues to expand nationally. AfD's regional leader in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, said the party had "made history in this state."

Merz, addressing his party's executive board before speaking publicly, acknowledged that "of course, this is going to have consequences," though he did not immediately detail what changes the CDU would make to its strategy. He was firm, however, that the party's longstanding refusal to cooperate with the AfD would not change, telling reporters, "We have no agreement with this party — neither in our fundamental beliefs nor in the current political issues that need to be addressed." He also vowed that the CDU "will not allow ourselves to be destroyed by these people."

Reading Into the National Mood

In his remarks, Merz pointed to a broader social undercurrent behind the result, saying he sensed a society "longing for disruption" and "fundamental change" rather than backing for any single AfD policy position. That framing suggests the CDU leadership views the loss less as a rejection of any one decision and more as a symptom of deeper voter frustration with the governing coalition in Berlin, including on issues such as immigration, energy costs and economic stagnation that have fuelled AfD's rise across German states in recent years.

Merz also used the news conference to signal continuity on foreign policy, stating he would not shift "by even a millimetre" on Germany's stance toward Russia and Ukraine, seemingly aiming to reassure allies that domestic political turbulence would not alter Berlin's position on the war.

Why It Matters Beyond Saxony-Anhalt

The result adds to a string of strong regional performances by the AfD and will intensify scrutiny of Merz's coalition ahead of future state and national contests. European governments and commentators have watched Germany's rightward electoral drift closely, given the country's central role in EU policymaking, and Monday's reaction from Berlin suggests the CDU leadership now views the threat from the AfD as an existential one for the party rather than a temporary protest vote confined to the former East Germany.

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