Far-right AfD surges in German regional election, but coalition path unclear

In a regional election that has stirred the depths of Germany's postwar political memory, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party has emerged with a commanding lead in exit polls — a result that forces the country to confront a question it has long sought to foreclose: whether a party born of opposition to the liberal democratic consensus can now be entrusted with executive power. The ballot box has spoken clearly, but the architecture of coalition politics and a deliberate cordon of exclusion built by every mainstream party may yet prevent that voice from becoming a governing one. Ger