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AfD wins 44 percent in Saxony-Anhalt
The party tapped into voter frustration over a wide range of economic and social issues. A win of that size sent shockwaves through Germany's political system, and an AfD-led government would be the first far-right state government in the country since the Nazi era.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency has designated the AfD a suspected extremist group, and some of the party's leaders have downplayed the Holocaust and adopted Nazi slogans. The party could still take power in the state, depending on negotiations among rival parties over the coming weeks.
Why can 44 percent fall short of a majority?
Seats in German state parliaments are allocated in proportion to votes, but only parties that clear a five percent threshold receive any. Votes for parties under the threshold are dropped from the seat count. That makes the winners' share of seats larger than their share of votes. A party can therefore win an outright majority of seats with less than half the vote, and Germany's federal elections use the same five percent threshold.
Why do other parties refuse to join the AfD?
Germany's mainstream parties have for years kept a pledge known as the Brandmauer, or firewall, against forming governments with the AfD. The pledge has been strongest among the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the Free Democrats. A party short of a majority usually needs a coalition partner to elect a government. The AfD was founded in 2013 as a party opposed to euro bailouts.
How does Germany's intelligence agency label parties?
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is Germany's domestic intelligence agency, and it sorts groups into categories, including suspected cases of extremism. A suspected-case label allows tools such as informants and the monitoring of communications, subject to court approval and oversight. The labels can be challenged in court. In 2022, an administrative court in Cologne upheld the agency's classification of the AfD as a suspected case.
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