Germany’s far-right AfD seeks its first taste of power in eastern vote

Germany is holding its breath before an eastern election that could give the Alternative for Germany its first state-level majority in the country’s postwar history. The AfD is seeking outright control of Saxony-Anhalt’s regional parliament, presenting the vote as a step toward its larger ambition of national power.

For the party’s opponents, the election represents a serious danger. For the AfD, it offers a chance to turn its strength in eastern Germany into government authority. The result could also create new trouble for conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose pledge to halt the far right’s advance now looks particularly uncomfortable. He has been booed at recent public appearances and is hardly viewed as an electoral asset.

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The refugee children should be given the message that their stay in Germany is only temporary.

The AfD’s charismatic lead candidate in the state, 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund, has dominated political discussion and media coverage. Der Spiegel has dubbed him “Germany’s Most Dangerous Man.” He has dismissed reports that people formerly involved in the neo-Nazi scene hold influential positions around him. His public image includes appearances before enthusiastic crowds and social media posts showing him riding a retro East German scooter.

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sexual deviations and non-reproductive lifestyles

The party’s appeal in its eastern strongholds draws on nostalgia for the past and sharp dissatisfaction with the present. Voters cite immigration, public safety, Germany’s struggling economy, high energy costs and aid sent abroad, including to Ukraine. The AfD’s manifesto calls for refugee children to be placed in special classes and told that their stay in Germany is temporary. It also attacks what it calls the promotion of “sexual deviations and non-reproductive lifestyles” over “normal family” structures, and proposes banning LGBT rainbow flags at schools.

The party wants children to learn less about the Nazis and more about positive aspects of German history. On immigration, it proposes a task force to detain and deport migrants who no longer have the right to remain in the state, while calling for an end to what it terms “illegal, culturally alien” mass migration.

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normal family

The AfD’s pro-Russia sympathies have also raised questions about whether it can be trusted with sensitive intelligence. When a Russian army mug appeared in the office of senior AfD figure Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, he called it a souvenir and said, “it’s not our war.” Berlin this week publicly blamed Moscow for a failed drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport, a claim the Kremlin denied. German security sources have meanwhile warned that Russian-backed disinformation campaigns targeting AfD rivals are escalating, while Moscow’s representatives reject that accusation.

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it’s not our war