Germany’s
far-right AfD thanks Elon Musk as France warns state election win a ‘serious
moment’
Lead
candidate in Saxony-Anhalt welcomes further ‘strong’ cooperation with Musk as
French minister says ‘we cannot forget our history’
Staff
and agencies
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/07/afd-thanks-elon-musk-german-state-elections-2026-win
The
candidate who led the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party to a historic
state election victory in Germany has thanked Elon Musk for
his support, as one French minister warned that this was a “serious moment” for
Europe.
The AfD
more than doubled
its support in the Saxony-Anhalt region and appears to be on the brink
of becoming the first far-right party to gain power in Germany at state level
since the second world war.
On Sunday
night, Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s lead candidate, thanked Musk on X “for your
support and for your clear and highly important perspective on the political
developments of our time”, adding: “I would very much welcome the opportunity
for strong and constructive cooperation”.
Siegmund
wrote his comments after Musk said “Well done!” in German to AfD co-founder
Alice Weidel, when she posted about the projected win.
Earlier,
US president Donald Trump posted a screenshot of the election projection
without comment on his Truth Social site. Russian presidential envoy Kirill
Dmitriev took a screengrab of Trump’s post and praised a “historic win for the
pragmatic AfD”. AfD is pro-Kremlin, urging a stop to support for Ukraine and
pushing for Ukrainians to no longer receive refugee status.
Despite
its resounding victory, AfD fell just short of winning a majority. The party
was seeking an absolute majority in the state legislature to govern alone and
overcome the so-called firewall of mainstream parties’ refusal to work with
AfD.
Final
results showed AfD falling three seats short, with 39 lawmakers in an 83-member
parliament.
However,
it still remains unclear as to how and whether the AfD will be able to form a
government, having ruled out entering a coalition and being refused any form of
cooperation by the mainstream parties.
AfD won
43.8% of the vote, more than double its showing five years ago in the region of
2.1 million people west of Berlin. That was far ahead of Friedrich Merz’s
Christian Democratic Union, which polled 17.2% – losing about half its support
– and won 15 seats. The centre-left Social Democrats polled 9.3%, the Greens
8.9% and the Left party 8.6%, winning eight seats apiece.
The BSW
party, which has said it wouldn’t elect either Siegmund or incumbent Sven
Schulze as governor but criticises the “firewall” against AfD, took 5.3% and
fives seats.
France’s Europe minister,
Benjamin Haddad, described the win as “a serious moment in Europe”, warning
that “nationalism and xenophobia will never be a solution”.
“We must
listen with humility to the anger, the concerns, the fears, and respond to
them,” he added. “We cannot forget our history. That is the meaning behind the
choices made by France and Germany.”
Donald
Tusk, the prime minister of Poland, said: “In Poland, only idiots or traitors
can rejoice at the triumph of the AfD in Germany.”
The
German Economic Institute has warned of the far-reaching consequences for the
German economy, in Saxony-Anhalt and beyond. It said the AfD’s immigration
policy would be “calamitous” for the state, which has an ageing, dwindling
population and is heavily dependent on foreign workers.
Critics
have also warned that an AfD-run state, due to the Kremlin-friendly stance of
the party, could leak sensitive information to Russia. The AfD has dismissed
such claims. It has said it would seek to reform the domestic intelligence
service, calling it biased.
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