Saxony-Anhalt Election Debate: Schulze and Siegmund Clash as AfD Vows to Reshape Intelligence Agency

AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund used an election debate to promise a major overhaul of Saxony-Anhalt’s security agencies if his party wins Sunday’s state election. He said the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution should return to what he described as its real task: removing criminals, terrorists and violent offenders from circulation, rather than fighting the opposition.

“The state Office for the Protection of the Constitution should be returned to its proper basic task, taking criminals, terrorists and violent offenders out of circulation, for example before they drive into Christmas markets, and no longer fighting the opposition,” Siegmund said in the debate organized by Volksstimme and the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.

The AfD is classified by the state intelligence service as definitively right-wing extremist, a designation the party repeatedly condemns as unjustified. The party is nevertheless expected to become the strongest force in the election and is seeking to form a government on its own.

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The state Office for the Protection of the Constitution should be returned to its proper basic task, taking criminals, terrorists and violent offenders out of circulation, for example before they drive into Christmas markets, and no longer fighting the opposition.

Incumbent Minister President Sven Schulze, a CDU member, said he would continue pressing for penalty-free early retirement after 45 years of contributions, despite opposition from Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “The retirement at 63 must therefore remain, because here in eastern Germany we have different biographies than in western Germany. I know not everyone likes that I am strongly committed to it, but I have a good backbone, a strong backbone. I will continue to make this my issue in Berlin,” Schulze said.

Saxony-Anhalt is currently governed by a CDU, SPD and FDP coalition, but polls indicate it will lose its majority. A CDU-led minority government could need support from the Left Party, as has happened in Saxony and Thuringia. The CDU rejects coalition or similar cooperation with both the Left and the AfD under a party conference resolution.

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The retirement at 63 must therefore remain, because here in eastern Germany we have different biographies than in western Germany. I know not everyone likes that I am strongly committed to it, but I have a good backbone, a strong backbone. I will continue to make this my issue in Berlin.