Ulrich Siegmund, the 35-year-old lead candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt, has told DW he intends to trigger a “domino effect” with what he calls a historic victory in the state election this September. Opinion polls suggest the party is on track to top the ballot and could even govern alone if those numbers hold.
Siegmund, speaking in the state parliament in Magdeburg, framed an AfD win as a long-awaited political shift and a chance to deliver what he says are policies tailored to the state. He said his campaign is optimistic and described the prospect of forming the first AfD-led state government in Germany as a realistic goal.
Controversial standing and security concerns
The AfD’s Saxony-Anhalt branch is one of the more contested regional chapters. The state’s domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, has designated the chapter as “right-wing extremist,” saying it promotes a race-based concept of citizenship at odds with Germany’s Basic Law. Siegmund dismissed that classification as politically motivated.
Opponents, however, including some police chiefs and political rivals, warn an AfD government would pose risks to national security — for example, in handling classified information — and could attempt to reshape the state bureaucracy. Georg Maier, interior minister in neighboring Thuringia, has urged state interior ministers to put the possible implications of an AfD takeover on their June agenda, arguing the party aims to erode liberal democracy from within.
Political scientists are skeptical about the party’s commitment to democratic norms. Matthias Quent of the Institute for Democratic Culture said an AfD in government would likely professionalize and entrench its radical tendencies, particularly in Saxony-Anhalt where the state party is among the most extreme.
Staffing plans and vetting debate
Behind the scenes, AfD strategists are already preparing candidate lists for key administrative posts. Siegmund estimated that up to 200 positions across ministries and state agencies would need to be filled if the party takes power. He maintained that appointments would follow civil service rules rather than party dictates and rejected the idea of “ideological vetting” of candidates — including those with links to the Identitarian movement — arguing that the focus should be on individual qualifications within the legal framework.
Critics dispute this line, warning that the party would seek to place loyalists and extremist-leaning supporters into the civil service. The AfD’s own internal rules bar party members from joining certain organizations deemed extremist, but Siegmund drew a distinction between party membership rules and appointments to state office.
Security apparatus and law enforcement
Siegmund, a former salesman with a high-profile social media presence, has said he would reorganize law enforcement agencies to make them “neutral” and more effective, portraying that as depoliticization. Observers worry such changes could be used to align security institutions with the party’s political priorities.
Deportation policy and ‘remigration’
One of the AfD’s signature promises is tougher measures on migrants and asylum seekers. Siegmund says a government under his party would detain people awaiting deportation — departing from current practice — and establish a dedicated deportation task force. Saxony-Anhalt’s Interior Ministry reports there are just under 5,000 people in the state who are marked as required to leave the country.
The party’s discourse has also invoked the contested concept of “remigration,” a plan discussed at a high-profile far-right meeting that proposed mass deportations. Siegmund attended a 2023 networking event that drew widespread scrutiny; media coverage of that gathering helped spark major civil society protests.
Education, culture and Russia policy
Siegmund has outlined far-reaching changes to education policy, including bringing back homeschooling, creating separate classes for refugee children, and removing diversity education, LGBTQ+ awareness content, and anti-racism programming from curricula. Education is a state responsibility in Germany, so a Saxony-Anhalt government would have scope to pursue these priorities.
On foreign and cultural matters, Siegmund has called for an end to sanctions on Russia and for renewed Russian-language teaching and student exchanges. While foreign policy is decided at the federal level, he says cultural and educational ties should be restored.
Scandals and public reaction
The Saxony-Anhalt AfD has been rocked by scandals this year. Several state lawmakers were shown to have arranged paid positions for relatives, creating a nepotism controversy. Siegmund’s attendance at the 2023 far-right networking event also drew significant criticism and helped ignite large-scale protests — among the biggest civil society mobilizations in the Federal Republic’s history.
Election outlook and potential consequences
If polls are borne out on September 6, the result could end more than two decades of conservative rule in Saxony-Anhalt and mark a major breakthrough for a party that began in 2013 as an anti-euro movement and shifted focus to anti-immigration politics around 2015. Siegmund argues that a regional AfD victory would encourage similar gains elsewhere.
About 1.8 million people are eligible to vote in Saxony-Anhalt, a state that is shrinking and aging more rapidly than many other regions. Whatever the outcome, the campaign has intensified debates about the resilience of democratic institutions, the role of state governments in shaping education and security policy, and how Germany handles the rise of a party that many institutions regard as extremist.
Edited by Rina Goldenberg.