Germany's Far-Right Alternative for Germany (AfD) Claims 'Historic Victory'... Musk and Trump Welcome It, Europe Wary
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- 2026-09-07 17:06:02
- Updated
- 2026-09-07 17:06:02
On the 6th (local time), Candidate Siegmund said to Elon Musk via social media, "I thank you for your support and for providing a clear and important perspective on the political developments of our time."
Previously, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel wrote a congratulatory message in German to Ulrich Siegmund and the AfD Saxony-Anhalt state party, to which Elon Musk replied in German, "Well done!" Elon Musk has publicly expressed his support for the AfD through contributions and remarks, and in late January 2025, about a month before the German federal parliamentary elections, he even attended an AfD party event online to campaign online.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted a graph on Truth Social comparing the projected vote share by party in the Saxony-Anhalt state assembly election, in which the AfD came out as the undisputed leader, with the vote share from the previous election in 2021, without any separate commentary.
In response, Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special economic envoy, posted a screenshot of President Trump's post and commented, "A historic victory for the pragmatic AfD."
There are also voices of caution regarding the AfD's rapid rise. French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad called it a "critical moment for Europe," stating that "nationalism and xenophobia can never be a solution."
The German Economic Institute (IW), a private economic research institute based in Cologne, also pointed out that "this result could have widespread consequences not only for the state of Saxony-Anhalt but for the German economy as a whole."
Critics also warned that "if the pro-Kremlin AfD comes to power and runs the regional government, there is a possibility that sensitive information will be leaked to Russia."
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