Saxony-Anhalt is in a predicament. The Alternative für Deutschland won Sunday’s elections in the German state by a large margin and will control 39 seats in its 83-seat legislature. Since it falls three seats short of a majority, the options for governing are between bad and worse.

The AfD can’t govern on its own. Neither can the Christian Democrats, the Left, the Greens, nor the Social Democrats, who, combined, won the same number of seats.

• A coalition government is nearly impossible. Saxony-Anhalt’s own domestic intelligence agency classifies the AfD as “confirmed far-right extremist,” and all parties in the state have thus far ruled out a coalition.

The only party potentially willing to form a coalition with the AfD is the recently founded far-left Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht party. Thus, a governing coalition would either mean:

• Alternative für Deutschland + Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht
• Christian Democratic Union + the Left + the Greens + Social Democratic Party + Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht
• Either coalition would mean a union of opposites with a razor-thin majority of just two seats. However, the cdu has ruled out governing with the Left as well.

Another way to power: The AfD could attempt to attract dissenters from the conservative cdu to meet the 42-seat mark. Or if the election of a state premier fails twice due to the lack of a majority, anyone who gains a simple plurality of the vote can be sworn in. But power attained that way would be extremely fragile. Will the AfD take the risk?

• Last Thursday, AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund said he would only govern with “a stable majority” provided by his own party and that even a one-seat majority of all-AfD legislators would not be enough. If he fears dissent within his own party, how much less can he trust others?
• “We extend a hand to every political actor in Saxony-Anhalt,” Siegmund said after the election, but added: “We will not compromise our principles.”

A strategy that avoids responsibility? The AfD has so far only been a protest party, and it is easier to gain popularity that way than to govern.

Germany’s future: Voters gave the AfD unprecedented support only to receive more uncertainty in return. As election results like these threaten to further paralyze German politics, Bible prophecy reveals that Germany will choose authoritarian rule to rise out of the abyss.