Germany's Far-Right AfD Set to Control a State Government for First Time Since 1945

The Alternative für Deutschland, runner-up in 2025 federal elections, now rivals Chancellor Merz's conservatives in mid-2026 polling. Economic stagnation has buoyed its support. It leads in eastern Saxony-Anhalt and could become the first far-right party to govern a German state since the postwar period. Mainstream parties formally refuse coalitions with the AfD, but state-level arithmetic doesn't require those agreements.