AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: These 39 AfD lawmakers are entering the Magdeburg state parliament

Thirty-nine Alternative for Germany lawmakers will take their seats in the newly elected state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, a group Die Zeit describes as including politicians who spread conspiracy theories and ethnic-nationalist ideas. Some are also under investigation.

Nadine Koppehel and Juliane Waehler are the only women in the new AfD parliamentary group. The youngest lawmakers are 35, while the oldest is 78. The faction’s average age is in the early 50s.

Sixteen of the 39 lawmakers are entering the state parliament for the first time. Twenty-three have served there before. Matthias Büttner, from Stendal, also sat in the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021.

The AfD campaigned in Saxony-Anhalt under the slogan “Everything is possible.” Nearly 44% of voters chose the party on the second vote. That result now makes it possible for a party classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence service as confirmed far-right to help form a state government for the first time since the end of the Nazi dictatorship.