Historic far-right victory deepens German political crisis

The Alternative for Germany won 43.8% of the vote in Sunday's Saxony-Anhalt state election, its best result in 13 years and a result that puts it within reach of governing at the state level for the first time since 1945.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats collapsed to 17.2%, down 19 points from the prior vote, leaving only an all-hands coalition of five other parties as the remaining way to block AfD's Ulrich Siegmund from becoming minister president.

Exit polling pointed to immigration and the economy as top voter concerns, with AfD drawing nearly 60% of working-class voters and roughly 157,000 former nonvoters. Most parties still hold to a longstanding pledge not to govern with AfD, though that commitment is described as under strain.

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