Well Done
By Constantine Murmur
On the evening of 7 September 2026, as the preliminary results from Saxony-Anhalt confirmed that the Alternative for Germany had won 43.8 percent of the vote — its strongest state election result in history, three seats short of governing a German state for the first time since the defeat of Nazism — Elon Musk wrote "Well done" on X, the Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev screengrabbed Donald Trump's Truth Social post and praised a "historic win for the pragmatic AfD," and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said nothing. António Costa, President of the European Council, said nothing. The Commission's spokesperson service, which issues an average of forty-seven press releases per working day on matters including the correct curvature of agricultural drainage conduits, issued nothing. Commissioner Myrmidon, who has been following events in Saxony-Anhalt with the attention they deserve, notes that the Commission's silence lasted longer than the AfD's victory speech, and considerably longer than Elon Musk's response, which appeared within minutes of the result. He has formed certain views about the order in which these events occurred.
It is tempting to read the Commission's silence as prudence — as the considered restraint of an institution that understands its role is not to comment on the internal electoral affairs of member states. Commissioner Myrmidon has considered this interpretation at some length and finds it, on balance, inadequate. The Commission commented on the internal electoral affairs of Hungary when Viktor Orbán won. It commented on the internal electoral affairs of Poland when the Law and Justice party governed. It has issued communications, guidelines, recommendations, frameworks, and impact assessments on subjects ranging from the labelling of olive oil to the permitted decibel levels of lawnmowers. It did not, in the forty-eight hours after the strongest far-right electoral result in a German state since 1945, find occasion to say anything at all. Commissioner Myrmidon does not suggest this is a coincidence. He suggests it is a choice. Choices, in his experience, are more revealing than coincidences.
The AfD's lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, ran on a platform that included remigration, the banning of rainbow flags in schools, the halting of new wind farms, and the replacement of the state slogan "Think Modern" with "Think German." He also announced, at a campaign stop in Lützen, that the women of the town were "great-looking." He fell three seats short of governing alone. The voters of Saxony-Anhalt, a state that produced Martin Luther, gave 43.8 percent of their votes to a party that Germany's own domestic intelligence service has classified as "proven extremist" — a legal designation that allows the state to monitor its members and activities. The Russian presidential envoy called it a "historic win for the pragmatic AfD." Commissioner Myrmidon notes, without editorial comment, that the word "pragmatic" is doing considerable work in that sentence. He also notes that the Commission has not yet used the word "extremist" in connection with Sunday's result, preferring, it would appear, to say nothing.
The French foreign minister described the AfD as "neo-Nazi, anti-European, pro-Putin." The Spanish prime minister described the result as a warning. The Polish prime minister said only idiots or traitors could celebrate it. Giorgia Meloni and Emmanuel Macron said nothing. Ursula von der Leyen said nothing. The Commission's first public comment on the Saxony-Anhalt result came on Monday, forty-eight hours after the polls closed. A spokesperson said the Commission "takes note" of election results in member states and referred further questions to the German government. Meanwhile, the Commission's forty-seven daily press releases continued to appear, covering, among other matters, a consultation on the revision of the framework directive on waste. Commissioner Myrmidon has read the directive on waste. He considers it timely.