Merz 'deeply shocked' by far-right AfD win in Saxony-Anhalt

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he is "deeply shocked" by the overwhelming victory for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, reported dpa. The far-right party won a record 43.8% of the vote, its best-ever showing in a German state election, with Merz's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) falling to just 17.2%. "This is the heaviest defeat the CDU has suffered in years, decades," said Merz.

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• The large Verdi services trade union likewise termed the result "bitter and alarming." "This state election has fundamentally changed the political situation in Saxony-Anhalt.
• The state is divided," said Friedrich Kramer and Gerhard Feige, the respective bishops of the state's Protestant and Catholic churches.
• "Our concern is for social peace and for people living together in our federal state," the bishops added.
• Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who has previously expressed support for the AfD, congratulated the party on its election victory and was immediately offered a potential cooperation deal.
• "Well done!" Musk wrote on his social media platform X in response to a post by AfD co-leader Alice Weidel congratulating the party's lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund on the...

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"We know that Germany carries a special responsibility due to its history." German churches, trade union voice concern over AfD state victory German churches and trade union representatives expressed deep concern at the victory by the AfD.