The Alternative for Germany took 43.8 percent in Saxony-Anhalt's state election, 39 of 83 seats, and still did not win the right to govern alone. [1] Turnout hit 77.8 percent. [1] The CDU collapsed to 17.2 percent. [1] A record is not a cabinet.

Berlin Spectator called it the strongest far-right result in a German state election since the war, and also printed the missing majority. [1] The AfD is classified as confirmed right-wing extremist in the state. [1] Coalition math now runs through a firewall that Sunday night's count did not repeal. Russian intermediaries celebrated; that celebration is not a coalition agreement.

Monday's paper does not appoint a minister-president. It records a share, a shortfall, and a program that wants cheap Russian energy and an end to Ukraine aid. The share is Magdeburg's. The government is still unformed.

Thirty-nine seats in an 83-seat house is a blocking minority with a hangover, not a chancellor. [1] Anyone selling a national turn from a Magdeburg night is skipping the Bundestag.

The CDU's 17.2 percent is the companion humiliation. [1] A firewall needs a partner large enough to stand on the other side of it.

Turnout at 77.8 percent undercuts the excuse that only the angry voted. [1] The angry were numerous and punctual.

-- HENDRIK VAN DER BERG, Brussels