Germany's AfD eyes Saxony-Anhalt win as first step toward federal power

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is ​banking on a breakthrough in next ​month's state election to build momentum ‌for ​a future national victory, the party's co-leader Alice Weidel said on Sunday.

"We will form the government in Saxony-Anhalt," Weidel said in ‌an interview with public broadcaster ZDF, referring to the eastern German state that votes on September 6. While the party's lead candidate in the state has stated the AfD's aim to govern alone ‌there, Weidel went further, expressing confidence the party will secure the necessary majority to govern in ‌the state alone.

A recent Infratest dimap poll shows AfD with 41% support, well ahead of 24% for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democrats CDU. Despite its strong showing in some past regional elections, AfD has yet to enter ⁠a state ​or federal government because ⁠all other major parties have ruled out cooperation with it.

Weidel said the CDU's refusal to work with the ⁠AfD — a policy known in Germany as the "firewall" — was weakening the conservatives and would eventually put her party ​in a position to govern nationally. "The CDU will never win another federal election," she ⁠said.

The AfD has long argued that the "firewall" was undemocratic, while the CDU says the policy is necessary because AfD poses ⁠a ​threat to Germany's fundamental principles and its constitutional order. The AfD also leads national voting-intention polls, though with a smaller margin. The latest Politbarometer survey by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen put the party ⁠at 27%, compared with 22% for the CDU/CSU bloc.

Saxony-Anhalt is the first of three state elections ⁠in September. Berlin and ⁠Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania vote on September 20. Weidel has also repeated the party's call for a tougher immigration policy and Germany's withdrawal from the European system of ‌passport-free travel ‌to better secure its borders.