German Democracy, as We Knew It, Is Over

The Alternative for Germany trounced mainstream rivals in Sunday's Saxony-Anhalt state election, putting the party on the edge of power for the first time since the Nazi era in a state of 2.2 million people. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who once vowed to halve AfD support after taking over his party in 2018, has instead watched it roughly double, all while his own approval ratings sit at historic lows.

Some observers note Saxony-Anhalt is small, older, poorer and more historically sympathetic to the AfD than the rest of Germany, and the party's chapters there have been labeled extremist by the federal government's constitutional watchdog. The AfD is tacitly backed by the Kremlin and openly embraced by figures including Donald Trump, JD Vance and Elon Musk, while other European right-wing parties keep their distance.

Merz promised an 'autumn of reforms' that voters are still waiting on, even as his party's shift rightward under his leadership failed to blunt the AfD's appeal.

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