In the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the far-right populist party AfD achieved a historic victory, securing 43.8% of the vote. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.

The result is the party's strongest-ever state performance and brings it closer to governing a German state than any far-right party since World War II. The victory has sent shockwaves across Europe, with nationalists cheering a "historic win" and mainstream leaders warning of a "grave moment."

Mainstream parties' collapse

The election results highlighted the weakening of traditional parties. The CDU, led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, garnered only 17.2% of the vote, nearly half its total five years ago. The center-left SPD, one of Germany's main governing parties for the past 60 years, scraped just 9.3%.

Despite the AfD's regional branch being officially classified as "confirmed right-wing extremist" by the domestic intelligence service, the party won 39 seats in the 83-member parliament, just short of an outright majority. This allows the AfD to potentially form a state government.

Broader European trend

Experts caution against overinterpreting a single regional result. Saxony-Anhalt is home to only 1.8 million voters and has long been a far-right stronghold. Tarik Abou-Chadi, professor of European politics at Oxford University, noted: "A far-right party winning a regional election in Germany is not more scary than a far-right party winning a regional election in France, the UK or the Netherlands."

However, the AfD leads in national polls. It is also competitive in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where state elections are due later this month, and is polling second even in liberal Berlin. This is part of a decade-long march by far-right parties across Europe.

Rise of far-right votes in Europe

According to research led by Matthijs Rooduijn, a political scientist at the University of Amsterdam, almost one in four voters in Europe now cast their ballot for far-right parties. This proportion has grown nearly fivefold since the mid-1990s and climbed particularly steeply over the past three years.

The analysis, involving over 150 political scientists in 31 countries, found that the proportion of Europeans voting for a far-right party in their most recent national elections rose to over 23% in 2026, up from about 10% a decade ago and roughly 5% in 1995.

Far-right populist parties are now in government in Croatia, Czechia, Italy, and Finland, propping up a right-wing minority government in Sweden, and leading in polls in Austria, Belgium, France, and Germany.

Setbacks and criticism

However, far-right parties have also suffered recent defeats. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders's PVV lost nearly a third of its seats to finish second last year. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán's Fidesz was comprehensively beaten by his center-right rival in April.

Cas Mudde of the University of Georgia, a leading expert on Europe's far right, commented: "The far right is here to stay, and many of its parties are as established as the (former) 'mainstream' parties. Like other parties, their electoral support fluctuates."

Failure of the 'cordon sanitaire'

The refusal of mainstream parties in countries like France and Germany to collaborate with far-right parties has led some commentators to argue that the "cordon sanitaire" or "firewall" has failed, or even been counterproductive.

By keeping the AfD out, Germany's mainstream parties have actually boosted it: the party has been protected from the compromises and failures inherent in government. At the same time, the center has been "hollowed-out," forced into uncomfortable, unstable alliances that agree on little and accomplish even less, further frustrating voters and driving support for the extremes.

According to Mujtaba Rahman of the Eurasia Group risk consultancy, "There's a self-reinforcing political dynamic that feeds the AfD's rise. The weaker the election results, the less common ground in the coalition, the fewer the policy results. The fewer results, the bigger the frustration in the electorate, the bigger the AfD's share of the vote."