A political earthquake is brewing in Germany's east as working-class and young voters appear set to deliver an unprecedented victory for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Sunday’s state elections in Saxony-Anhalt.The AfD, which was famously backed by Elon Musk in last year’s national election, has been criticized for being pro-Russia and was accused of being a "right-wing extremist endeavor" by Germany’s domestic intelligence office, has the chance to become the first party outside the mainstream center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) or center-right Christian Democratic Union and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), to win an outright majority in a German state parliament, or Landtag, since World War II."The reason Saxony-Anhalt matters," foreign policy expert and author Daniel Schatz, who holds a doctorate in political science from Berlin's Humboldt University, told Fox News Digital, "is that the AfD is no longer just knocking on the door of power.It may be close to kicking it open."TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FAR-LEFT PROTESTERS CLASH WITH POLICE IN ANTI-CONSERVATIVE PARTY RIOTSUlrich Siegmund, a charismatic candidate with broad appeal in the state, has helped propel the AfD to 43% in state polls, far ahead of other parties.
The AfD could possibly win with a majority in the state parliament and form a state government, which would be a first for the party.Saxony-Anhalt will hold elections on Sept.
6.(2026 Getty Images)Other minor parties have led governing coalitions in German states, but no party outside the SPD or the CDU and the CSU has ever held a single-party governing majority in Germany since the Federal Republic was re-established in 1949.Janek Treiber, a political science researcher at Dresden University of Technology, told Fox News Digital that if the AfD does win outright in Saxony-Anhalt, their policy influence would be limited due to the German federal system, but warned "you must not underestimat...