Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his coalition government's response to the historic victory of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Saxony-Anhalt state election will be pivotal in deciding the future of the federal government, political scientist Nicolas Spohn told Euronews.
Final results following last Sunday's election in the eastern German state showed AfD received 43.8% of the vote, more than double its showing five years ago in the region of 2.1 million people. Merz's party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), slumped to 17.2%.
"First of all, it really is a historic victory for the AfD, and it is an earthquake for the rest of the parties," Spohn, an expert on East German state politics, said.
The pro-Kremlin, anti-immigration party's win marks the first time a far-right party is within reach of power at the state level since WWII.
Questions have been raised about what this means for national politics in Germany. Thorsten Frei, the leader of the CDU in Germany's federal parliament, or Bundestag, denied that the result suffered by the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt would have consequences on the national level.
