Germany's far-right surge: Lessons for the right

lopinion.fr (French)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reaffirmed Monday he will not alter his structural reform agenda after the far-right AfD won a historic regional election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, where it more than doubled its 2021 result to 43.8% while his CDU collapsed to 17.2%. The CDU had governed Saxony-Anhalt almost continuously since reunification, making the defeat a seismic blow. The AfD also surged in March elections in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, and now leads national polls with 27-28% support, five to six points ahead of Merz's conservative bloc. Merz came to power in 2025 vowing his policies would halve far-right support, but the opposite has occurred. His left-leaning coalition partner is now calling for adjustments, while the AfD's gains extend beyond former East Germany, challenging earlier assumptions about its regional base.


With a significance score of 3.3, this news ranks in the top 10% of today's 33459 analyzed articles.

Get summaries of news with significance over 5.5 (usually ~10 stories per week). Read by 10,000+ subscribers:


Germany's far-right surge: Lessons for the right | News Minimalist