Rejecting the other parties’ “firewall” approach against the rightwing AfD and her own leftwing party BSW, Sahra Wagenknecht has offered to cooperate with the AfD during the September elections in the two eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxe-Anhalt. “The autumn of 2026 has a touch of 1989,” Wagenknecht said, pointing to growing dissent among voters with the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. She proposes that she and AfD leader Alice Weidel debate at two public events, in Schwerin and Magdeburg.
If the BSW were elected to seats in the two states’ parliaments, it would support the formation of governments with backing by the AfD on select issues. The BSW offer is presented in a letter by the party executive to that of the AfD.
