The AfD is leading polls in Saxony-Anhalt ahead of Sunday's state election and could become the first far-right party to lead a German state government since World War II.
Voters in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt head to the polls Sunday in an election that could hand the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) its first state government -- and make it the first far-right party to lead a German state since the fall of the Nazi regime. The AfD has led every credible public poll in the state for months, and party leaders are now openly talking about placing one of their own in the governor's office. A victory would send shockwaves through Berlin, Brussels, and capitals across Europe.
The man at the center of the push is Ulrich Siegmund, a 35-year-old former marketing professional who has built a following on TikTok that approaches half the number of people eligible to vote in Saxony-Anhalt. Siegmund answers questions directly to camera, often from his own back porch, dressed in crisply pressed white shirts with an easy smile that stands out in a party long known for dour, confrontational figures.
His polished style masks one of the hardest-right platforms in contemporary European politics. Siegmund has made the mass deportation of migrants a centerpiece of his campaign, and he argues on social media that German doctors are leaving for Switzerland and Norway while foreign-trained physicians are brought in to replace them. Party program documents go further, claiming that culturally foreign health workers often fail to meet German medical standards and endanger patient well-being.
The strategy is working. Saxony-Anhalt, a small, structurally weak state of roughly two million people, has become the AfD's best shot at real power, and polling shows the party comfortably ahead of its rivals heading into Sunday.
A victory would be unprecedented. No far-right party has led a German state government since World War II, and the AfD has been classified as a right-wing extremist organization by domestic intelligence authorities in several German states. Winning the governor's office would hand the party control of Saxony-Anhalt's ministries, its administrative apparatus, and a powerful platform to press its agenda on immigration, schooling, and public broadcasting.
Germany's mainstream parties have long ruled out coalition deals with the AfD, and that firewall is the single biggest question hanging over election night. If the AfD finishes first but cannot assemble a governing majority, the state could face weeks of deadlock and horse-trading. Even so, party leaders are preparing to claim a mandate to govern, and political observers say a first-place finish alone would reshape the party's standing nationwide.
On the streets of Halle, the state's largest city, voters describe a mix of anger and hope. Alexander Winsek, a 49-year-old aviation engineer, told reporters he is weighing his first-ever vote for the AfD because he likes the party's position on limiting the influx of migrants. But he is not a pure ideological recruit: he says he wants Germany to stay in the NATO alliance, keep the euro, and is not exactly pro-Russia.
Siegmund, Winsek argued, is younger and more optimistic than the rest of the party's leadership, a breath of fresh air compared with the doom and gloom of establishment politics. Not everyone agrees. Hannes Kreschel, a 23-year-old law student and former AfD supporter, now attends the party's rallies to challenge voters face to face. He says the AfD's economic program only adds up for the financially well-off, and that its nationalist vision is not the country he wants to live in.
Researchers who study the party's support base see something more complicated than simple extremism. Marcel Lewandowsky, a political scientist at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, notes that most AfD voters say they support democracy -- but also believe democracy is not functioning in Germany. The party's promise of real democracy, he argues, is one the established parties have struggled to counter.
Polls close Sunday evening local time, and the first projections are expected within hours. Three numbers will matter most: whether the AfD wins an outright plurality, whether any mainstream coalition can be assembled without it, and how the federal government in Berlin reacts.
The stakes extend far beyond Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD is now polling first at the national level as well, and Germany's established parties are still searching for an answer to its rise. Sunday's result will tell the rest of Europe just how close the country is to a political milestone it has not seen in more than eight decades.
The AfD is leading polls in Saxony-Anhalt ahead of Sunday's state election and could become the first far-right party to lead a German state government since World War II.
freedomlinedispatch.com
