German exit polls suggest far-right party has big lead in regional election

MAGDEBURG, Germany: The Alternative for Germany party has a strong lead in a regional election, but it is unclear whether it will be able to form the country's first far-right state government since World War II, exit polls indicated Sunday.

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, went into the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt seeking an absolute majority in the state legislature to govern on its own. That would overcome the so-called "firewall" of mainstream parties' refusal to work with AfD.

The polls for ARD and ZDF public television put AfD on around 44% of the vote.


That was far ahead of the Christian Democratic Union, the center-right party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz that currently leads the state, which was seen polling 18.5%. The Left Party was seen finishing third with about 9%.

The center-left Social Democrats and Greens also were on course to remain in the state legislature, with around 8%-9% each. It was unclear whether the BSW party would get the 5% of the vote needed to win seats. The exit polls put AfD at least marginally short of an absolute majority.