Updated Sep 8, 2026 – 12.41pm, first published at 12.00pmIt is rare for provincial German elections to be watched all over the world. But the huge surge in support for the Alternative for Germany party in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday (Monday AEST) is truly an event of global significance.The AfD’s Saxony branch has been classified as right-wing extremist by Germany’s domestic intelligence services. Some in the party flirt with Nazi imagery and slogans. Nonetheless, the governments of Russia and the US — two nations that take great pride in their role in defeating Nazism — are applauding its rise.Financial TimesSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles
Germany’s victorious extremists have friends in very high places
Both the Kremlin and the Trump administration are cheering on the rise of the AfD, which won an election for the first time since the defeat of the Nazis.
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