Germany crossed a line on Sunday that had held since the Federal Republic was founded in 1949.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) took 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, the first outright win for a far-right party in a German state since the war.
It secured 39 of the 83 seats in the Magdeburg parliament, three short of a majority.
The result was equally striking for what happened to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Its vote share collapsed to 17.2% from 37.1% in 2021.
The Social Democrats, Greens and Left Party each secured eight seats.
