As Germany prepares for regional elections this September, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is positioned to make unprecedented political history, holding a strong lead in opinion polls in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt that could deliver the party its first outright state-level majority since the end of World War II.
At a party conference held this weekend in Magdeburg, the state’s capital, AfD delegates formally adopted a 150-page government platform widely labeled as radical and centered on pro-ethnic German policy priorities. Leading the party’s state ticket is Ulrich Siegmund, a popular TikTok political personality who received a standing ovation from conference attendees, framed the upcoming vote as a turning point for not just Saxony-Anhalt, but the entire nation and beyond.
“The whole of Germany is watching this historic election. Parts of Europe are watching this historic election. Parts of the world are watching this historic election, because from here, finally, the political turnaround can also happen here in Germany,” Siegmund told the crowd. He emphasized that AfD is the only major party willing to openly address widespread public grievances, stating, “that we don’t feel safe anymore, that we scarcely feel at home anymore, that we don’t recognise our homeland anymore.” Closing his remarks, he issued a rallying cry: “Let’s take back our country.”
The party’s policy platform lays out sweeping changes for Saxony-Anhalt, with hardline restrictions on immigration and targeted support for ethnically German families at its core. A central pillar of the plan is aggressive implementation of deportation and “remigration” policies — a controversial term referring to the mass relocation of people with non-German backgrounds, which has been openly embraced by the party following a 2024 leak revealing senior AfD figures attended a private discussion on mass expulsion proposals. Notably, the platform even calls for an end to recognizing Ukrainians as war refugees and demands their remigration, a policy that directly clashes with the federal German government’s staunch support for Kyiv amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.
Beyond immigration, the platform takes a strongly pro-Russia stance, calling for an immediate end to energy sanctions on Moscow, expanded Russian language education in German schools, and argues that the current Berlin-led anti-Russia policy runs counter to German national interests. To address Saxony-Anhalt’s status as Germany’s oldest state with a rapidly aging population, AfD proposes tax breaks for large ethnically German families and universal free childcare, framed as a push to prevent what the party calls the “extinction of the German people.” The platform also enshrines a conservative vision of the nuclear family as “a father, a mother and as many children as possible,” blames low birth rates on what it terms “sexual deviations and non-reproductive lifestyles,” and proposes a ban on gay pride flags in public schools. Additional proposals include cutting public funding for regional public broadcasting.
While some of AfD’s proposals require federal approval and cannot be implemented at the state level alone, a large portion of the platform’s provisions are feasible under state governance. Political opponents have issued stark warnings about the party’s agenda. Eva von Angern, parliamentary group leader for the left-wing Die Linke party in Saxony-Anhalt, described AfD’s plans as a “nightmare scenario for Saxony-Anhalt and for our democracy.” She accused the party of advancing an authoritarian vision that would severely erode fundamental civil rights, saying, “the public must be made aware of the AfD’s ‘ugly truths’ and the ‘very negative consequences for them personally if the AfD were to govern in Saxony-Anhalt.’”
The AfD has held major support in former East German states including Saxony-Anhalt for years, but the party has seen rising support across the entire country in recent cycles. In last year’s federal elections, AfD secured a second-place finish, winning a historic 20.8% of the national vote and 152 seats in the 630-seat Bundestag. Domestically, intelligence officials have flagged the party as an extremist threat: the Saxony-Anhalt state branch of AfD was formally classified as a “far-right extremist organisation” by the state’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2023, and the national party received the same classification from federal domestic intelligence last year. That federal classification drew criticism from the White House, and AfD has since mounted a legal challenge, resulting in a temporary court injunction that bars use of the label until a final ruling is issued.
Outside the Magdeburg party conference this weekend, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest the AfD and its agenda. Political observers across Europe now view the Saxony-Anhalt election and the party’s newly released platform as a clear indication of the national agenda AfD would pursue if it continues to gain power across Germany.