AfD thanks Elon Musk for Saxony-Anhalt election win as France warns of a 'serious moment' for Europe

Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party scored a historic win in Sunday's Saxony-Anhalt state election, taking 43.8% of the vote — more than double its result from five years earlier in the region of roughly 2.1 million people west of Berlin.

Reactions from the US and Russia

AfD's lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund thanked Elon Musk on X for his "support and clear, highly important perspective on the political developments of our time," adding he would welcome "strong and constructive cooperation." This followed Musk writing "Well done!" in German to AfD co-founder Alice Weidel after she posted about the projected result.

US President Donald Trump posted a screenshot of the election projection on Truth Social without comment. Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev then shared Trump's post, calling it a "historic win for the pragmatic AfD." The AfD is widely seen as Kremlin-friendly, calling for an end to support for Ukraine and for Ukrainian refugees to lose their protected status.

Results and the question of forming a government

Despite the decisive win, AfD fell three seats short of an absolute majority in the 83-seat state parliament, securing 39 seats. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won 17.2% (15 seats), losing about half its previous support. The Social Democrats took 9.3%, the Greens 8.9%, and the Left party 8.6%, each winning eight seats. The BSW party won 5.3% and five seats; it has said it will not back either Siegmund or incumbent governor Sven Schulze, though it criticizes the mainstream parties' "firewall" policy against cooperating with AfD.

It remains unclear whether and how AfD will be able to form a government, since the party has ruled out forming a coalition while other parties refuse to work with it.

International reaction

France's Europe minister, Benjamin Haddad, called the outcome "a serious moment in Europe," saying "nationalism and xenophobia will never be a solution" and urging leaders to listen with humility to public anger and fear. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk was blunter, saying that "in Poland, only idiots or traitors can rejoice at the triumph of the AfD in Germany." Poland's foreign minister separately described the win as "a very worrying sign," according to France 24.

The German Economic Institute has warned of far-reaching consequences for the regional economy, saying AfD's immigration policy would be "calamitous" for Saxony-Anhalt, which has an aging, shrinking population dependent on foreign workers. Critics have also raised concerns that an AfD-led state government, given the party's Kremlin-friendly stance, could risk leaking sensitive information to Russia — a claim the AfD rejects, saying instead it intends to reform what it calls a biased domestic intelligence service.