German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Alice Weidel clashed in a stormy Bundestag debate following the far-right party’s strong election result in Saxony-Anhalt.
The AfD won almost 44% of the vote in the eastern state, while Merz’s Christian Democrats received 17.2%—about half their previous share, according to the supplied report. The AfD fell three seats short of an outright majority, leaving it unclear whether the party can form a government.
Merz called the AfD a “destructive force” and criticised its migration policy, including its call for “remigration”. He said one in six skilled workers in Germany had a migration background and argued that the AfD’s proposals would amount to “nothing other than an ethnic cleansing in the skilled trades based on skin colour and origin”.
The chancellor said the government recognised that some deportations were necessary but needed to distinguish between people who contributed to German prosperity and those without permanent residency. He also accused the AfD of harming German interests through its support for Russia.
Weidel said the election result showed that Merz’s coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats had failed. She accused the government of driving Germany towards bankruptcy and said Merz’s Christian Democrats had been “pulverised” in Saxony-Anhalt.
She also linked migration to daily knife violence and attacks on trains and at stations. Merz countered that the AfD’s plans would make it impossible for care homes, hospitals and restaurants to function.
The debate was repeatedly interrupted by AfD MPs. Bundestag President Julia Klöckner threatened to expel lawmakers from the chamber, telling them: “We are not on a football pitch.”
The AfD has indicated that it may seek support from another party, potentially the left-wing populist BSW, to install its candidate Ulrich Siegmund as state premier. Siegmund’s deputy has also suggested that Merz’s CDU could cooperate with the AfD if it abandoned the political “firewall” against working with the far right.
No far-right party has formed a government in any of Germany’s 16 states since the end of World War Two, according to the report. Merz has described the Saxony-Anhalt result as seismic and said it had changed Germany.