Orbán congratulates AfD on "landslide victory"

“A huge night for Germany and Europe,”

Viktor Orbán wrote on X in response to the preliminary results of the state elections in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday evening. He added: “Congratulations to Alice Weidel, Ulrich Siegmund, and the entire AfD on their landslide victory in Saxony-Anhalt. Buckle up! This is just the beginning!”

It’s no wonder he was quick to offer his congratulations; back in 2025, Orbán had already declared that the AfD was the future. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini echoed Orbán’s sentiments, describing the victory as a sweeping success, despite the left's “constant attempts to stoke fears and conjure up catastrophic scenarios.”

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party received around 43.8 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election in the eastern German state. The CDU won 17,2 percent, the Left Party 8.6 percent, and the Social Democrats 9.3 percent. The Greens, improving on their previous results, received 8,9 percent. However, the result of over 40 percent will not be enough for an absolute majority in the state parliament, according to the AP.

This is the first time since World War II that a far-right party has formed a government in a German state, but it remains to be seen how the government will be formed . According to preliminary results, the AfD’s 43.8 percent victory—with Ulrich Siegmund heading the party’s list—will not be enough for it to form a government on its own. Based on current figures, the AfD is projected to hold 39 of the 83 seats in the state parliament.

The election in Saxony-Anhalt, which has a population of 2.1 million, would normally have only been of interest to those who follow German domestic politics and the residents of Saxony-Anhalt, but this time the whole world was watching. This was the first election where the question was not whether the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) would win the most seats in the state parliament, but rather whether it could secure an absolute majority—or whether the other parties, by joining forces, could prevent the AfD from electing its first state premier.