BERLIN, September 7. /TASS/. Tino Chrupalla, co-chairman of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), has said that voter fatigue with Germany’s continued support for Ukraine was among the factors behind his party’s landslide victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliamentary elections.

"Federal policy issues significantly influenced the outcome. This was evident from the issues that proved decisive for voters, including internal security, as well as war and peace – and this is also an important message," Chrupalla told a news conference in Berlin.

"People are simply tired of this. They see how billions in tax revenues are transferred to Ukraine every day, effectively sending money abroad instead of spending it on our own people," he emphasized.

According to the AfD leader, this policy has contributed to "the current economic situation in the country."

State parliamentary elections were held in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6. According to preliminary official results, the AfD won a landslide victory with 43.8% of the vote - its strongest result in any German region since the party’s founding and nearly twice its showing in the previous state election five years ago.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) finished second, receiving 17.2% of the vote - less than half of its 2021 result and its worst-ever performance in Saxony-Anhalt. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) came third with 9.3%, followed by the Greens with 8.9% and the Left Party with 8.6%. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), formerly known as the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance for Reason and Justice, also cleared the 5% threshold to enter the state parliament, winning 5.3%.

Experts have described the CDU’s poor showing as a personal setback for Merz and a sign of voter dissatisfaction with his government’s policies, including its approach to Russia.