AfD election prospect raises German security concerns

A possible AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt's regional election on Sunday is raising security concerns in Germany, including over intelligence work, police priorities and access to sensitive information.

The Alternative for Germany has pledged to overhaul the state branch of the BfV domestic intelligence agency if it wins the vote in the eastern state. In 2023, the agency classified the AfD's local chapter as a right-wing extremist organisation, a label later extended to the party nationwide. The AfD is challenging the decision in court.

The party says the BfV is used to target opponents of establishment parties and has threatened to abolish the state agency entirely if it wins an absolute majority. Even if it could not go that far, an AfD-led government could influence the agency by replacing senior officials or shifting attention toward left-wing radicalism.

Konstantin von Notz, vice-chairman of the German parliament's intelligence oversight committee and a Greens lawmaker, told AFP that an AfD government could have “drastic consequences for security policy”. He said right-wing extremists with ties to Russia and other authoritarian governments could gain access to sensitive security information and databases.

Political analyst Wolfgang Merkel of the WZB Berlin Social Science Center said he considered the prospect of the AfD sharing classified information with Moscow unlikely, saying such an act would amount to treason.

Saxony-Anhalt is home to German military bases and training areas. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has called for AfD ministers in a state government to be barred from classified information, saying authorities must consider who can be granted access because national security is involved.

Welt newspaper has reported that Germany's federal government is drawing up emergency plans for a scenario in which individual states might seek to obstruct the movement of NATO troops. Security expert Luca Manns of the University of Cologne said a serious dispute between Berlin and a state government would be more likely to end up before the Constitutional Court.