Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland party is on course to become the strongest party in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election in September and could lead a regional government for the first time, according to a new poll.
The infratest dimap survey published on Thursday put the AfD at 41% in the eastern state, up two points from the previous poll and well ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU at 26%. The Social Democrats, Merz’s junior coalition partners at the federal level, trailed at 7%.
Although AfD support has long been strongest in the former Communist east, disillusionment with the federal coalition is widespread just one year into Merz’s chancellorship, and the party is running roughly level with the CDU in national polls. An energy shock stemming from the Iran war is also threatening a fragile recovery in Europe’s largest economy, adding to pressure on the governing parties.
Other parties have ruled out cooperating with the AfD, which advocates tough migration policies and closer ties with Russia. However, the poll points to difficult coalition arithmetic after the 6 September vote if the AfD is to be kept out of government. The Left party stands at 12%, while the Greens and the populist BSW are both at 4% — below the threshold required to enter the state parliament.
(Reuters)
