The AfD may not end up controlling Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state despite a landslide election victory, but the far-right party's "dream result" sends a clear message.

"The Alternative for Germany built its nationwide constituency through relentless opposition to immigration, nativist appeal, and efforts to relativize Germany’s Nazi past," write Sudha David Wilp and Jackson Janes.

The CDU received 27.2% of the vote in district-level elections across the state, ahead of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) with 24.6%. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) finished third with 15.

AfD Saxony-Anhalt is a racist extremist group, according to the German state's intelligence agency. The party may well trounce its rivals in this weekend's state election.

The Alternative for Germany appealed on Monday to lawmakers from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives to support its ​bid to rule Saxony-Anhalt after the far-right party surged into first place in the eastern German state's election.

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won a landslide victory in Sunday’s election in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, testing a “firewall” against cooperation with the anti-immigrant, far-right party.

The likely leader of the eastern ⁠German ⁠state of Saxony-Anhalt, the far-right Alternative ⁠for Germany's Ulrich Siegmund, suggested a weapons producer could be allowed to ​operate in the state to provide resources for his party's planned deportation campaigns.

By Andreas Rinke and Kirsti Knolle BERLIN, Sept 9 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused the Alternative for Germany on Wednesday of supporting Russia against Germany's interests and advocating anti-migration policies that were tantamount to "ethnic cleansing".