U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed the Alternative for Germany’s historic state election victory, blaming Germany’s immigration policies for fuelling the anti-immigration party’s dramatic rise as Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces growing political fallout from the result.“Wow! The Populist Party in Germany just had a really big night,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social. “They finally got tired of the absolutely horrible Immigration rules and regulations which have hurt Germany so badly.”“THEY ARE ON THE RISE, and not going to take it anymore!” Trump added, signing off with “MGGA,” an apparent reference to “Make Germany Great Again.”Trump was responding to Sunday's election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) captured 43.8% of the vote, more than doubling its support from the previous election.The result gave the AfD 39 seats in the 83-seat state legislature, leaving it just short of an outright majority.Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which previously dominated state politics, collapsed to 17.2% and 15 seats. It had received 37.1% in 2021.The Social Democrats received 9.3%, the Greens 8.9%, Die Linke 8.6% and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance 5.3%. Voter turnout reached 77.8%, the highest recorded in the state since 1989.“We made history,” AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund said following the result. “We need fundamental political change in this country, with policies that finally focus again on our own interests, on our own country.”The result was the AfD's biggest election victory and leaves the party within striking distance of forming its first state government.That prospect has triggered a political crisis over Germany's longstanding “firewall,” under which mainstream parties refuse to enter governing coalitions with the AfD.The AfD could still be prevented from taking power if rival parties assemble a governing majority. The party could also seek support from other legislators or potential partners to put Siegmund into the state premier's office..Merz described the CDU's performance as a devastating setback.“We are deeply shocked,” Merz said Monday, calling it “the most serious election defeat that the CDU has had for years, for decades.”But the chancellor rejected suggestions he should abandon his government's economic reform agenda.“Giving up is not an option for me,” he said.Trump's intervention produced another clash Wednesday between Berlin and Washington.Metin Hakverdi, the German government's transatlantic co-ordinator, rejected Trump's comments and said German voters did not need advice from the White House.“We Germans decide for ourselves how we deal with migration and also whom we elect,” Hakverdi said. “We don't need advice from the White House on that.”A planned Wednesday telephone conversation between Merz and Trump was subsequently cancelled.Merz's spokesman did not explicitly say Trump's comments caused the cancellation but said it was not the result of a scheduling conflict. The spokesman noted Merz has repeatedly objected to foreign governments interfering in or commenting on German domestic politics and elections.The chancellor also went on the offensive against the AfD in Germany's parliament Wednesday after party co-leader Alice Weidel taunted him over the CDU's crushing defeat.Merz criticized the AfD's position on Russia and its use of the term “remigration,” which has become central to the country's immigration debate.“The word ‘remigration’ is nothing but a synonym for ethnic cleansing according to origin and skin color,” Merz told lawmakers.Merz said his governing coalition supports increasing deportations but distinguishes between foreigners legally working in Germany and those without a right to remain.The AfD's Saxony-Anhalt branch has been classified as a proven right-wing extremist organization by German domestic intelligence authorities. The party has rejected accusations that its policies threaten German democracy.Immigration was a major issue in the campaign, but the result also reflected broader dissatisfaction with the federal government, Germany's struggling economy and frustration with established political parties.The victory attracted praise from populist and right-wing political figures outside Germany, while German political leaders warned the result represented a major turning point for the country..For Merz, the result presents a particularly difficult political problem. His government has already tightened immigration policy, but the AfD's landslide suggests those changes have not stopped voters from moving further to the right on the issue.The AfD is now attempting to turn its record vote into governing power, while Germany's other parties face the prospect of working together to keep the election winner out of government.Merz insisted Wednesday that the AfD's success in Saxony-Anhalt would not translate into a national majority.The party, however, emerged from Sunday's vote with more than two-and-a-half times the support of the chancellor's CDU — and its strongest mandate since it was founded in 2013.
