AfD wins Saxony-Anhalt election; CDU concedes it lacks mandate

The AfD won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt with 43.8 percent, according to preliminary results, while the CDU fell to 17.2 percent. Minister-President Sven Schulze stated his party no longer has a mandate to govern, saying the AfD now holds it. The AfD secured 39 seats, three short of an absolute majority. The SPD, Greens, and Left each received between 8.6 and 9.3 percent, while the BSW entered parliament with 5.3 percent. The FDP failed to clear the five-percent threshold. Voter turnout was 77.8 percent, the highest since reunification. Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the CDU's defeat its worst in decades. The AfD's Ulrich Siegmund said he would seek a stable majority, while the BSW announced it would abstain in the third round of a potential minister-president vote. Refugee and church organizations expressed concern over the result.