AfD Breaches Germany’s Political Firewall in Saxony-Anhalt
In Saxony-Anhalt’s state election on 6 September, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured 43.8% of the vote and 39 of 83 seats, falling just short of an absolute majority amid nearly 78% turnout. The CDU collapsed to 17.2%, the SPD to around 9%. This stands out as the strongest result yet for a party long isolated by the Brandmauer (firewall) of mainstream non-cooperation, potentially enabling the first AfD-led state government since 1945 if smaller parties or defections intervene.
Background includes years of high net migration, integration failures, rising crime and terror incidents, industrial decline with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, high energy costs, and crumbling infrastructure. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU had pledged to halve AfD support; instead it more than doubled in this eastern state while the CDU halved. The BSW (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance) at 5.3% emerges as a possible kingmaker, open to limited cooperation or abstention. European right-wing leaders including Orbán, Salvini, Abascal and Musk congratulated the winners; mainstream figures and some neighbours expressed alarm.
Key tensions centre on whether the firewall remains viable: arithmetic makes anti-AfD coalitions spanning left to centre-right fragile and unappealing to voters. Questions remain over AfD’s ability to govern coherently given internal divisions on “remigration” and foreign policy, the sustainability of isolation strategies that appear to have boosted rather than contained the party, and the signal this sends to federal politics and other European systems facing similar voter discontent with centrist cartels.
Sources: Spiked, UnHerd, The European Conservative.
Reform UK Conference Tests Party’s Readiness for Power
Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham focused on a “First 100 Days” programme of radical state reform, including curbing quangos, civil service overhaul, constitutional changes and mass deportations, yet was overshadowed by a Channel 4 sting on funding discussions involving key aides James Orr and Dan Jukes. Nigel Farage downplayed the episode; the party faces police reports from opponents. Attendance mixed serious policy panels with populist spectacle.
The party has polled strongly but recently dipped, with internal efforts to professionalise under figures like Zia Yusuf showing mixed results. Danny Kruger outlined an “institutional intifada” to restore elected control against post-1997 bureaucratic expansion. Business engagement occurred but faced friction. Rank-and-file remained loyal, viewing media scrutiny as establishment resistance, while some insiders called the timing “sub-optimal.”
Tensions involve Farage’s dual image as outsider voice versus potential prime minister capable of detailed preparation; the gap between ambitious restoration rhetoric and organisational discipline; and whether external pressure unites or exposes cracks. Open questions include the depth of legislative readiness, capacity to withstand sustained institutional opposition, and ability to convert protest support into governing competence beyond core voters.
Sources: UnHerd, The European Conservative.