The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has won the election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
As per the preliminary results, AfD won 43.8 percent of the vote, according to preliminary official results. That is more than twice the 17.2 percent for the incumbent centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
According to The Guardian, candidate who led the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party to a historic state election victory in Germany has thanked Elon Musk for his support, as one French minister warned that this was a “serious moment” for Europe.
The AfD more than doubled its support in the Saxony-Anhalt region and appears to be on the brink of becoming the first far-right party to gain power in Germany at state level since the second world war.
On Sunday night, Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s lead candidate, thanked Musk on X “for your support and for your clear and highly important perspective on the political developments of our time”, adding: “I would very much welcome the opportunity for strong and constructive cooperation.”
Siegmund wrote his comments after Musk said “Well done!” in German to AfD co-founder Alice Weidel, when she posted about the projected win.
Earlier, US president Donald Trump posted a screenshot of the election projection without comment on his Truth Social site.
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev took a screengrab of Trump’s post and praised a “historic win for the pragmatic AfD”. AfD is pro-Kremlin, urging a stop to support for Ukraine and pushing for Ukrainians to no longer receive refugee status.
Despite its resounding victory, AfD fell just short of winning a majority. The party was seeking an absolute majority in the state legislature to govern alone and overcome the so-called firewall of mainstream parties’ refusal to work with AfD.
Final results showed AfD falling three seats short, with 39 lawmakers in an 83-member parliament.
