Sunday’s victory of the anti-immigrant, anti-America, pro-Russia and pro-China Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt shook Europe to its core. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union party was the hardest hit. The CDU had ruled the state since 2002 and saw its vote share collapse from 37.1% in 2021 to 17.2%. Saxony-Anhalt is the eighth-largest of Germany’s 16 states by land area; measured by economic output per person, it is among the poorest.
State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern this month are likely to bring more good news for the AfD and further setbacks for the Christian Democrats. Mr. Merz may lose his job as the bad news rolls in, but concerns about an extremist takeover of Germany are premature. Winning pluralities in a handful of former East German states is a significant achievement, but the AfD is still very far from taking over Germany as a whole. France, where Marine Le Pen currently leads the polling for the 2027 presidential election, seems likely to elect a “far right” leader long before Germany does.