The polls proved correct. When ARD's exit poll was released, Alternative for Germany (AfD) won a record 44.5 percent.
"We have taken back our country. Our goal was not only realistic, it was what the people wanted," Ulrich Siegmund said at his party's election vigil.
This is a result not only for Saxony-Anhalt, but for all of Germany.
So far, no traditional party has wanted to cooperate with the AfD, and in the television election vigil, senior representatives of all other parties that are guaranteed to pass the threshold continued to say no.
It is therefore uncertain whether the result is enough for Siegmund to be able to lead Saxony-Anhalt in a majority government.
"We will reach out with all our might," he says, but also admits that he currently does not see anyone to form a coalition with.
Left-wingers can decide
Left-wing breakaway Sahra Wagenknecht's BSW could probably be given a role as a kingmaker. The party looks set to pass the threshold by the narrowest possible margin and can, it seems, choose between minority governments on either side.
BSW's top candidate in the state, Claudia Wittig, does not want to commit to a decision on live television, but would like to see cooperation with the AfD on individual issues such as energy policy.
She also believes that a state government without the AfD would be "completely undemocratic."
We want to do what is good for the country, then we'll see if it's with or without the AfD, she says.
CDU halved
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU halves its share of the vote to 18.5 percent, but still becomes the second-largest party according to the exit poll. In the last state election, in 2021, the figures for the two parties were the opposite - then the AfD received 20.8 percent and the CDU 37.1.
With just over two million inhabitants, Saxony-Anhalt is one of Germany's smaller states. But the election is seen as symbolically important and an indication of the AfD's potential for similar success nationally.
Among other things, the party wants to fundamentally overhaul migration policy, invest in more Russian language teaching in schools and "good relations" with Moscow, scrap wind farm construction and close down public service media.
The message seems to be striking a chord in the former GDR, where the party has the greatest support.
"We are going through the roof here in Saxony-Anhalt, we will go through the roof in all of eastern Germany. The CDU will never win an election again," Alice Weidel, one of the AfD's two party leaders, told ARD.
In two weeks, there will be state elections in two of the other eastern federal states, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Facts: The election in Saxony-Anhalt
This is how the election went according to ARD's polling station survey.
Right-wing nationalist AfD: 44.5 percent (20.8 in the 2021 election)
Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 18.5 percent (37.1)
Left Party Die Linke: 9.4 percent (11.0)
Social Democratic Party SPD: 8.2 percent (8.4)
Liberal FDP: 2.1 percent (6.4)
The Greens: 8.9 percent (5.9)
Left-wing conservative BSW: 5.0 percent (-)
Others: 3.4 percent
According to the television channel MDR, voter turnout was at a record high; by 4 p.m., over 65.3 percent had already voted, which is more than in all local elections in Saxony-Anhalt since German reunification in 1990.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) was founded in 2013, focusing on the consequences of the euro crisis, which was considered to have been mishandled by the Merkel government.
The party quickly gained support in public opinion but failed to enter the Bundestag that same year.
In 2016, a new party program was adopted, in which opposition to immigration and criticism of Islam were given a more prominent place.
Since then, the party's political orientation has become increasingly radical, and in several states the party is monitored by the security services after being classified as far-right and deemed to pose a threat to democracy.
In the 2025 federal election, the AfD received 20.8 percent of the vote and, according to opinion polls, the party is now by a wide margin the largest among German voters.
Corrected: In an earlier version of this fact box, the wrong year was stated for when the party tightened immigration policy in the party program.
