Supporters queue in lines stretching dozens of metres for a photo with him: AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund. The 35-year-old is standing for the party in Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt.
The state’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution — a department of the Germany’s interior ministry — has classified the Saxony-Anhalt AfD as a confirmed far-right extremist organisation. Siegmund, whose TikTok following has made him the party’s poster boy in eastern Germany, has been received like a celebrity all over the state.
“I finally want to make policy for our own country again,” Siegmund tells Euronews. He wants to overhaul migration policy, freeing up money he says is “currently being handed out around the world, for people who are here illegally, who commit crimes here.” Policy, he says, should serve “our own interest, for our own country.”
Within his first 100 days in office, Siegmund plans to introduce a “work obligation for asylum seekers.” Fire service driving licences and the display of flags at schools are also near the top of his list. “Of course this isn’t turning the really big wheel, but these are the first concrete steps where you can see the first progress across all areas of this society.”
At the “family festival,” as the AfD calls it, near Magdeburg’s city centre, thousands cheer and celebrate their “Ulli.” His face is emblazoned on countless T-shirts and placards. Chants of “We are the people” repeatedly cut through the crowd; some supporters also chant “We are the Wende.” Between speeches, musicians take the stage and techno beats blare from the speakers.
Here at the “family festival”, as the AfD calls it, near the Magdeburg city centre, thousands cheer and celebrate their “Ulli”. His likeness is emblazoned on countless T-shirts and placards. Time and again chants of “We are the people” cut through the crowd. Some AfD supporters also chant “We are the Wende”. In between, musicians take to the stage or techno beats blare from the speakers.
The party has rolled out its heavy artillery: well-known figures including Thuringian AfD politician Stephan Brandner and co-chair Tino Chrupalla fire up the crowd. Whenever speakers mention the CDU, SPD, or other parties, the crowd boos and whistles, some shouting “Shame.”
AfD’s supporters are hoping for a 180-degree turnaround in Saxony-Anhalt’s state politics, led by Siegmund. “I support the AfD and I love Ulrich. Once you’ve done all sorts of things — rape, stabbings — then you can’t live here, you have to go, and he makes sure of that. That’s already good,” Gerda tells Euronews.
The pensioner has travelled specially from Berlin, wanting to attend an AfD event in person, having already watched several on YouTube. “Gerda” isn’t her real name; like many at the event, she doesn’t want to give it, fearing possible consequences.
Even a heavy downpour doesn’t stop fans from waiting for Siegmund’s appearance. For them, everything is at stake: for the first time, the AfD could govern at state level — as part of a coalition, or possibly even alone.
It would mark the first time a far-right party holds power at state-level in Germany’s post WWII era.
CDU politician: working with the AfD would spell the end of the Union
Current polls put the AfD at around 41%, according to Forschungsgruppe Wahlen on behalf of ZDF. The CDU trails far behind in second place with 23%, and the Left party is third with 11.5%. In the last election, in 2021, the AfD won 20.8%, while the CDU won by a clear margin with 37.1%.
This time the AfD hopes to win the election outright — but that might still not be enough to form a government. The party may fall short of the votes needed to govern alone, and it rejects any coalition with the CDU. The CDU, in turn, rejects a coalition with the AfD, having adopted a formal incompatibility resolution, or so-called “firewall” against it.
Dennis Radtke, head of the CDU’s workers’ wing (CDA), warns that his party would be finished if it formed a coalition with the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt. “The moment we start working with this party, bringing it into positions of responsibility, the CDU is finished,” Radtke said on ZDF’s “Maybrit Illner” programme.
Only the BSW can imagine tolerating an AfD-led government — that is, supporting an AfD single-party government with its votes without formally joining it. But the BSW is currently polling at four percent and could fail to clear the 5% threshold. The SPD and the Greens have also spent recent weeks hovering just below the threshold, though they have now climbed to 8.5% and 6% respectively.
Lead Left party candidate optimistic
Given current polling, Saxony-Anhalt may face a complicated coalition puzzle after the vote. A coalition between the AfD and CDU appears ruled out. A CDU–Left party alliance, as the basis for a majority government with the SPD and Greens, also looks unrealistic for now, since the CDU’s incompatibility resolution applies to the Left party as well.
Just days ago, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) said: “Both with the AfD and with the Left party there are such fundamental differences with the Union that cooperation is out of the question,” he told the “Magdeburger Volksstimme” and the “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.”
The mood in the state parliament has changed significantly in recent years, Eva von Angern, the Left party’s lead candidate, tells Euronews. A member of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament since 2002, she says: “The climate is very hostile to women. Hate and incitement are what define a parliamentary sitting” — and this hostility has now spread into society and social media as well.
Despite the current forecasts, she says she is looking toward election day “optimistically.” She is “firmly convinced” the AfD will not manage to form a single-party government in Saxony-Anhalt: “People have understood. They want to fight for diversity in Saxony-Anhalt.”
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