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🇮🇹 Italy /Elections & Politics

Germany’s great fear of the AfD: Weidel tells Siegmund, ‘Write history’

From ANSA · () Italian

Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Thousands gathered in Magdeburg for a pro-democracy rally opposing a possible AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt, while the party held its own final campaign event.
  • AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund is seeking an outright majority and could lead the party into government in a German state for the first time.
  • Polls cited by the article put the AfD at 42%, ahead of the CDU at 22%, increasing pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Magdeburg’s cathedral square filled with a colorful, intergenerational crowd united by one fear: that the far-right AfD could win Saxony-Anhalt. Around 15,000 people came from across Germany, especially from the east, for a pro-democracy rally as the state approached a potentially historic vote.

You are three years old and you are already here! We are the party of young people, families and the future.

· Alice WeidelShe addressed a child during the AfD’s closed final campaign event in Magdeburg.

The AfD is aiming for an outright majority under its candidate, Ulrich Siegmund. A victory would allow Alice Weidel’s party to enter government in a German state for the first time. Weidel closed the campaign at a private event, appearing onstage in a white jacket before responding to a child in the audience. “You are three years old and you are already here! We are the party of young people, families and the future,” she said. The campaign slogan was: “Everything is possible.”

“We will no longer let them tell us how we have to live. Certainly not here in the east,” said the 36-year-old Siegmund. He presented the most hard-line elements of the party’s program in positive terms, including removing nongovernmental organizations and ending the public broadcasting fee. Weidel urged him on with the words: “Tomorrow Siegmund will write history. Ulli, you will be the first AfD minister-president in Germany!”

Everything is possible.

· AfD campaign sloganThe slogan was used during the party’s final campaign event.

The article portrays two sharply divided Germanys competing for votes in a state of fewer than two million people. Polls cited by ANSA give the AfD 42%, compared with 22% for the CDU, putting Chancellor Friedrich Merz under intense pressure. “We will not allow these people to destroy our country with their talk,” Merz said, while acknowledging that the CDU’s previous approach had not been enough and that Germany needed a new narrative.

Tomorrow Siegmund will write history. Ulli, you will be the first AfD minister-president in Germany!

· Alice WeidelWeidel endorsed Ulrich Siegmund’s bid to lead Saxony-Anhalt.

Fear also surfaced among opponents of the AfD. An unnamed worker at a refugee council told ANSA she feared the party would win and eliminate organizations like hers. She said she had previously faced threats and online abuse, and did not want to be identified. “I do not know how to imagine the Monday ahead if they win,” she said.

We will not allow these people to destroy our country with their talk.

· Friedrich MerzThe German chancellor warned against an AfD victory before the vote.
About this summary

Originally published by ANSA in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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