Sunday’s Election in Germany: What an AfD Victory Would Mean for Saxony-Anhalt

The Alternative for Germany is leading polls in Saxony-Anhalt and could win enough seats to form a state government on its own. The prospect has focused attention on what an AfD-led administration could actually change in the eastern German state.

Migration would be a central priority. AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund has promised to deport as many migrants without permanent residence permits as possible, including by detaining more people before deportation. The party describes its approach as an “offensive campaign based on deportation and remigration.” It also says an AfD-led government would refuse to accept people who entered Germany illegally from a safe third country.

The party wants action against churches that provide shelter to migrants who are illegally in the country. It also proposes requiring asylum seekers to perform community service, with benefits withdrawn if they refuse. But the party may not be able to deliver all of its promises. An analysis by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology found that 21 of the 56 migration measures planned by the AfD could be implemented only at national or European level.

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offensive campaign based on deportation and remigration

Security and public broadcasting would also face major changes. Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the BfV, has classified the AfD branch in Saxony-Anhalt as a right-wing extremist organization. The party accuses the agency of political interference and wants to overhaul its state branch, while not ruling out abolishing it. It also proposes citizen patrols to supplement police work, an idea criticized by police unions as a threat to the police monopoly on lawful force. Siegmund has said he would move to end the agreement governing the regional public broadcaster, using that pressure to force public media to reform. Media law experts say the plan would likely conflict with the constitutional requirement to provide comprehensive public broadcasting.

In education, the AfD says it would end the ban on homeschooling and the obligation for parents to send children to school, although that would require a two-thirds parliamentary majority the party is unlikely to obtain. Within its first 100 days, it also promises to ban rainbow flags in schools, require the use of the German flag and introduce the singing of the national anthem. State funding for the School Without Racism initiative would end, while history teaching would eventually give less attention to the Nazi era and more to other periods of German history.

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reform