AfD influence

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s landslide victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election has shaken Germany’s political establishment and prompted calls for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government to rethink how it is responding to voters, Politico reported on Sept. 7.

Germany, known for its political stability, is now experiencing a seismic political shift. Since reunification in 1990, the country has enjoyed 33 years of steady progress. During this time, power alternated between two dominant political forces: the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), headed by Gerhard Schröder and the current chancellor, Olaf Scholz.