3 min readSep 10, 2026 06:16 AM IST First published on: Sep 10, 2026 at 06:05 AM ISTFor the first time since World War II, a far-right political party has decisively won a state election in Germany. The thumping victory of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, Alternative for Germany) in Saxony-Anhalt, with 43.8 per cent of the vote, against 17.2 per cent for the second-placed centre-right Christian Democratic Union, has sent shockwaves well beyond the small eastern state. It is still unclear whether the AfD, whose Saxony-Anhalt branch has been officially classified as “confirmed right-wing extremist” by German intelligence, will be able to form a government. But the result is the strongest-ever performance in a state election by a party shunned by mainstream parties under Germany’s “firewall” strategy. The AfD has managed to move towards the political mainstream.It is tempting to reduce the AfD’s victory to region-specific factors: A relatively poor and ageing electorate in former East Germany; a territory that has, over the years, become its stronghold. But the party that wants to institute separate classes for children of refugees and seeks better ties with Russia is also leading in national opinion polls and is ahead of the Social Democratic Party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where state elections are due on September 20. The AfD has capitalised on a sense of voter grievance, making immigration and economic uncertainty its principal planks. Immigration has been the defining political issue since the European refugee crisis of 2015, but it has acquired greater force amid weak growth, high energy costs and anxieties about jobs that have undermined the confidence that once sustained the political centre. The export-heavy industrial model that contributed to German prosperity for decades has also come under severe strain due to the rise of China. The AfD has brought these disparate frustrations together and convinced voters of the inability of the established parties to address them. The firewall strategy has, in turn, helped it to portray itself as the only authentic opposition to a political system whose principal point of unity appears to be stopping the AfD.AdvertisementAcross Europe, the far right — the National Rally in France, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy — continues to rise as immigration becomes a litmus test, alongside concerns over the economy. Failures on both fronts have created fertile ground for the far right. To halt its march, mainstream parties need to repair their credibility deficit and reclaim the power to set the agenda.