From Bogotá to Magdeburg: What Actually Connects Seven Right-Wing Wins, Country by Country

TOPSHOT - Members and supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party react after the first exit poll results were announced on public television at the AfD's election party following Saxony-Anhalt's state elections in Magdeburg, eastern Germany on September 6, 2026. Germany's far-right AfD won key regional elections on September 6 by a landslide with at least 44 percent of the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, said exit polls by two public broadcasters. (Credit: Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP via Getty Images)

• Five Latin American countries — Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, Chile and Colombia — swung to the right or center-right in just over a year, between April 2025 and June 2026.
• Argentina and El Salvador didn't change political direction, but widened support for right-wing governments already in office, in October 2025 and February 2024 respectively.
• On Sunday, Germany's far-right AfD followed the same pattern in a regional vote in Saxony-Anhalt, posting its best-ever result, though it fell three seats short of an outright majority.
• Analysts disagree on the cause: some point to a broad protest vote against incumbents, others to a sustained ideological shift; cases like Mexico, Honduras and the mismatched election calendar complicate any single storyline.

A Sunday in Saxony-Anhalt That Reopened the Debate