Alternative for Germany Wins Saxony-Anhalt Election, Sparking LGBT Community Concerns

In the state elections in the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt held on September 6, 2026, the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured a victory for the first time in its history, gaining 43.8% of the vote. According to a statement by the LGBT organization of the Christian Democratic Union (LSU) , the election results mean that the largest faction in the state parliament is now a party that does not recognize the equal rights of LGBT people.

In a joint statement, the chairmen of LSU North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, Philipp Pohlmann and René Powilleit, called the election a “bitter day.” They noted that the AfD’s election program recognizes only a “family of a man and a woman from which children are born” as the norm, and links the acceptance of “sexual deviations” and non-reproductive lifestyles to a decline in the birth rate. At the same time, the Christian Democratic Union, which came in second in the elections with 17.2% of the vote, insists that LGBT people are an integral part of society and that same-sex families do not represent a deviation from the social norm.

Despite the victory and securing 39 out of 83 seats in the state parliament, the Alternative for Germany, led by Ulrich Siegmund, failed to gain the absolute majority (42 seats) necessary to form a government on its own. The Christian Democratic Union, the Social Democratic Party, the Greens, and the Left Party had previously announced their refusal to form a coalition with the AfD; however, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which entered the state parliament for the first time with 5.3% of the vote, could play a decisive role in forming the cabinet. LSU representatives called on citizens of other German regions to unite their efforts to defend a free and diverse society ahead of upcoming elections there.