BERLIN — Exit polls suggest the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is on track to win Sunday’s crucial regional election in Saxony-Anhalt that will determine whether the far right will hold a position of real power in the country for the first time since World War II.
According to an exit poll by the broadcaster ARD, the AfD was on course to secure first place, with 44.5 percent of the vote. A similar poll on ZDF put support for the AfD at 44 percent.
The same polls put the Christian Democratic Union party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz in second place, on 18.5 percent.
The big question is whether the AfD’s lead will ultimately be large enough for it to govern, or whether other parties will be able to form a coalition against it.