Historic win for far-right in Germany

Oliver Conway (0:00)

You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at Four Hours GMT on Monday the 7th of September. The AfD secures the biggest election win for the German far right since the Nazi era. US envoys leave Ukraine with no breakthrough on ending Russia's war. And the BBC investigates a claim that individuals working for the Saudi government might have been involved in the 9-11 attacks.

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We begin with what could be a significant moment for post-war Germany.

Supporters of the AfD celebrating a landslide election victory in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It was the biggest win for the far right in Germany since the Nazi era. The party more than doubled its support taking 44% of the vote, though it fell just short of a majority of seats in the state parliament. It was a very bad result for the German Chancellor Friedrich Metz. His party's vote was halved. The man who now hopes to become the first AfD Chief Minister of any German state, 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund, said they'd made history.

Ulrich Siegmund (1:39)

This election victory is a vote of confidence from the people of this country.

And we will live up to that trust. We will not compromise our principles. We will not give up on ourselves. We will never become like those who've rightly been punished this evening. We are Alternative for Germany.

Oliver Conway (1:59)

The AfD tapped into a wave of nostalgia for communist East Germany and managed to secure support from at least 150,000 previous non-voters.

The party wants to heavily restrict immigration, restore ties with Russia, quit the euro and promote unashamed German patriotism, defunding so-called anti-German art and teaching children less about Hitler. Mainstream politicians have refused to work with the AfD, but a small left-wing pro-Russia party might provide support if it can get into the state parliament. As our correspondent there, Jessica Parker, told Tim Franks.

Jessica Parker (2:39)

All eyes are on whether the smaller party, BSW or BSV as it's known here, whether it's going to reach the 5% threshold that could allow it to get into parliament. The reason that's important is BSV have signaled that they would maybe be open to helping the AfD actually take power in this state, even if it wouldn't be any kind of formal coalition. If the BSV didn't make it into the parliament, the AfD would potentially get more seats, more likely to get state-level power. So still some convoluted German political maths going on here. But the big picture is they've won in terms of voter share, the AfD, big.

They've won and they've won big here in Saxony-Anhalt.

Tim Franks (3:23)

And in terms of both the state, I mean, obviously states in Germany have a considerable amount of power, not unfettered power. So that could be important.

But nationally, what does this huge victory for the AfD mean, do you think?

Jessica Parker (3:39)

Nationally, I think it means the AfD feels there on the march and they have been growing in popularity. They're leading the polls nationally, even though their support is heavily skewed to Eastern Germany.

I think as well it's a bad night for Friedrich Merz, the Chancellor, CDU, he was already very embattled, but this could potentially further destabilise him and his government. Now remember, his government is, for example, a key supporter of Ukraine, whereas the Alternative for Deutschland want to end support to Ukraine and have pro-Russia policies. Now as you say, important to understand, states, they don't set foreign policy state governments, but they do run things like education, policing, culture. So as well, I think, for the AFD, they see this as a potential blueprint for how they would look in power in other states or indeed nationally, something that they aspire to. So they're seeing it as a stepping stone for their aspirations, whereas other people, I think, critics of the AFD, of which there are many in Germany, this is a party class, this right-wing extremist in this state by domestic intelligence, critics of the party fear this is a moment of peril for the country if indeed there is some kind of domino effect.

Oliver Conway (4:48)

Jessica Parker in Saxony-Anhalt.

President Trump's envoys have left Ukraine after talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Kiev after talks in Moscow with Vladimir Putin. As expected, there was no breakthrough on ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Our diplomatic correspondent James Landale is in Kiev.