AfD loses key landrat contests in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg

In the Saalekreis of Saxony‑Anhalt, CDU candidate Sven Czekalla won the landrat seat with 54.3 % of the vote against AfD candidate Uwe Arendt’s 45.7 %, amid a 44.9 % turnout. In Brandenburg’s Ostprignitz‑Ruppin, SPD incumbent Ralf Reinhardt secured 60.6 % versus AfD’s Torsten Arndt at 39.4 %, with about 46 % turnout. These defeats leave Robert Sesselmann of the Sonneberg district as the sole AfD landrat in Germany.

Thuringian interior minister Georg Maier warned that a possible AfD participation in a state government would pose a security risk, citing concerns over the handling of intelligence on right‑wing extremism and potential Russian espionage. He described a scenario of mass replacement of civil servants as a “state coup.”

Opinion‑poll director Manfred Güllner said an absolute majority for the AfD in the upcoming Saxony‑Anhalt state election is “entirely possible” if centre parties fail to mobilise their voters. The Left party called for a constitutional review of the AfD’s compatibility with the Basic Law, urging the Federal Constitutional Court to act.

In the Thuringian Landtag, a debate on church funding was triggered by an AfD proposal to abolish state payments to churches, highlighting the party’s broader policy agenda.