In Saxony-Anhalt, a region shaped by the long aftermath of reunification, Germany's officially designated extremist party has won the most votes in a regional election — a result that reveals both the depth of disaffection in eastern Germany and the structural limits democratic systems can impose on power without resolving the underlying hunger for it. The Alternative for Germany's first-place finish does not guarantee governance, as other parties have closed ranks against coalition partnership, yet the vote itself stands as a signal that electoral legitimacy and institutional legitimacy are d