Reports from Berliner Zeitung and other German outlets say senior figures of Alternative für Deutschland and the newly formed Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht have met to explore possible cooperation. AfD hard-liner Björn Höcke and BSW’s Thuringian chairman Frank Augsten held what both sides called a “constructive exchange” in Erfurt, while AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla confirmed that informal contacts are also under way at federal level aimed at securing “wechselnde Mehrheiten” (shifting parliamentary majorities). If carried through, an AfD-BSW understanding could deliver an immediate working majority in the 90-seat Thuringia Landtag and potentially reshape electoral maths ahead of the 2026 votes in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the two parties already poll strongly. The prospect has unsettled the established parties: some CDU figures warn the conservative bloc could be squeezed between a right-wing AfD and the economically left-leaning yet migration-skeptical BSW. BSW chair Sahra Wagenknecht has downplayed talk of a formal alliance, arguing that AfD support for higher defence spending and welfare cuts places it "closer to the CDU than to us". Nonetheless she defends dialogue with any party elected by “more than every fifth voter,” rejecting what she calls undemocratic exclusion tactics. AfD strategists, meanwhile, view the outreach as a way to break their political isolation after years of the so-called brandmauer that bars alliances with them. The discussions emerge while AfD wrestles with its own direction. Internal disputes over whether to moderate its stance to gain coalition partners, and a public row that saw MEP Maximilian Krah lose backing from right-wing publisher Götz Kubitschek over “remigration” rhetoric, highlight the high stakes for the party as it eyes broader legitimacy.