“Germany’s most dangerous man” sure to win historic election”
He wants to scrap public service, improve relations with Russia and launch a large-scale deportation campaign.
With the AfD’s Ulrich Siegmund, one of “Europe’s most extreme far-right parties” could gain its own majority in a German state parliament – for the first time since the founding of the Federal Republic in 1949.
In recent months, Ulrich Siegmund has been whizzing through towns and villages on a light blue Simson moped, a model from the GDR era that has gained cult status.
He smiles, shakes hands, makes fiery speeches. At election rallies, Siegmund talks about his vision for Saxony-Anhalt, a state with just over two million inhabitants located in a triangle between Berlin, Leipzig and Hanover. The party wants to fundamentally change migration policy, invest in more Russian language teaching in schools and “good relations” with Moscow, abolish wind turbine construction and close down public service media.
At the same time, he takes the opportunity to sign copies of the news magazine Der Spiegel, which in August put the AFD politician on the cover with the text “Germany’s most dangerous man” – an edition that has become a collector’s item.
Over 40 percent
Sunday’s election could be historic. For the first time, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a realistic chance of filling the position of Minister President (head of government) in a German state.
Ulrich Siegmund is confident of victory.
“The sun rises in the east, but it will shine over all of Germany,” he repeats time and again during the election campaign.
Since May, the AfD has been above 40 percent in opinion polls in Saxony-Anhalt, well ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU), which have governed the state since 2002.
Depending on how many of the other parties pass the five percent threshold, the result could be enough for a majority of its own, although that is far from certain.
In national polls, the AfD has also been the largest party in recent months.
With its campaign slogan "everything is possible," Siegmund is managing to engage voters who feel that most things have gotten worse and that politicians are not doing much about it. Not least on the issue of immigration, where the party wants to carry out a "deportation and return offensive" to increase security.
"Completely indifferent"
At the same time, researchers and political opponents are sounding the alarm about the risks of an election victory for the AfD. The German security service classifies the AFD in Saxony-Anhalt as far-right, and several of Siegmund's close associates have a background in a now-banned neo-Nazi organization.
- The AFD in Saxony-Anhalt is one of Europe's most extreme far-right parties with realistic claims to government power, extremism researcher Matthias Quent tells Tagesschau.
Siegmund himself is "completely indifferent" to what happened 20 or 30 years ago, he tells Der Spiegel.
- I look ahead.
Facts
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is one of Germany's smaller states in terms of population, with a population of 2.1 million people. The capital is Magdeburg, which is located roughly halfway between Berlin and Hanover.
Before German reunification, the area belonged to the GDR, then mainly divided into the districts (Bezirk) of Magdeburg and Halle.
Since 2016, Saxony-Anhalt has been a strong stronghold for the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Facts
Alternative for Germany
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) was founded in 2013, focusing on the consequences of the euro crisis, which was considered to have been mishandled by the Merkel government.
The party quickly gained popularity but failed to enter the Bundestag that year.
A new party program was adopted in 2015, in which opposition to immigration and criticism of Islam were given a more prominent place.
Since then, the political orientation has become increasingly radical and in several states the party is monitored by the security services after being classified as far-right and considered to pose a threat to democracy.
In the 2025 Bundestag elections, the AfD received 20.8 of the votes and according to opinion polls, the party is now by a good margin the largest party, among others
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