Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the Chairperson of the Schiller Institute, issued a statement on September 8, 2026, stressing: “Thoughtful citizens all over the world are breathing a sigh of relief. The landslide victory of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party in Saxony-Anhalt sends a clear message: The German people are intelligent enough not to let the establishment of the so-called Coalition of the Willing drag them into a war against Russia. The Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz Government’s war-mongering course was decisively rejected. With its election result of 43.8%, the AfD more than doubled its vote since the last state election. And Chancellor Merz has managed – as promised – to halve a party’s support, just not the AfD’s, but his own party’s, the CDU, which is down to 17.2%.”

She also said: “However, anyone who assumed this unprecedented electoral defeat would lead to a change in government policy must realise that Merz has proven himself to be a die-hard hardliner… The day after the election, when asked by a journalist whether the fact that the AfD and the BSW (Sahra Wagenknecht Movement) had together received over 50% would lead to a change in his Russia policy, the Chancellor replied that he would not deviate a single millimetre from his fundamental convictions.”

Zepp-LaRouche continued: “Although the media coverage on election night and the commentary the following day could not hide the establishment’s consternation over the results, politicians and media representatives conspicuously avoided addressing the main reasons behind the gains of the AfD and the BSW: voters in Saxony-Anhalt delivered a crushing defeat to Merz’s war policy and his oft-stated intention to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. They also made the current government pay the price for the free fall of the German economy. It was apparently no problem whatsoever for 43.8% of the voters that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution – whose record, as is well known, is not so squeaky clean – classified the AfD as far-right and unconstitutional. The fact that Merz is not the only hardliner in the CDU leadership was immediately demonstrated by the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst, who still called for proceedings to ban the party even after the AfD’s landslide victory. It remains to be seen what voters in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, who will go to the polls for State Elections on September 20, think about that.”

Zepp-LaRouche went on to emphasise in her statement that if the voters’ hopes for a better future with the AfD in government are to materialise, the forces within that party that advocate for genuine cooperation not only with Russia but also with China and the other nations of the Global South must prevail. Such reasonable forces do exist, and they propose competent economic policies. But there are also supporters of the libertarian Hayek Society and even of the Argentine chainsaw wielder Javier Milei. With the latter, German voters would go from the BlackRock frying pan into the Milei fire.

Nonetheless, Zepp-LaRouche concluded by mentioning that the good news from Germany is that a stop sign has finally been put in front of Merz’s anti-Russian suicide course. Now it’s time to work on real options for Germany’s future.

This article was first published in Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) Strategic Alert weekly newsletter (Volume 40, No. 37) on September 10, 2026.

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Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das