AfD wins at least 44% in Saxony-Anhalt exit polls

The far-right Alternative for Germany won at least 44 percent in Saxony-Anhalt state in eastern Germany on Sunday, according to exit polls, giving its top candidate Ulrich Siegmund a historic election result.

“We have made history today,” Siegmund said, while it remained unclear whether the AfD could win an absolute majority and form a government.

Siegmund, 35, has built a large following on TikTok, Instagram and other platforms, presenting a youthful and approachable face for the party at campaign events, “family picnics” and motorcycle outings.

His critics warn that his public style masks radical positions. He has vowed to deport irregular migrants “from minute one” if he comes to power.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency considers the AfD chapter he represents to be “right-wing extremist” with links to ethno-nationalist groups and think-tanks.

Siegmund was present at a 2023 secret meeting near Berlin where extreme right-wing activists discussed a radical “remigration” plan to expel millions of people with a migration background. The revelation cost him a committee chairmanship in the state parliament, but he has dismissed the meeting as a “Kaffee Klatsch,” or casual social gathering.

Several of his staffers and party colleagues are former members of the banned neo-Nazi group Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend. Siegmund defended his team to Welt daily, saying they had clean records and that he was not interested in what happened 20 or 25 years ago.

Siegmund was born in Saxony-Anhalt shortly after German reunification and lives in Tangermuende with his wife and daughter. He first joined the conservative CDU before switching in 2014 to the newly founded AfD.

He told AFP before the vote that his plans to make the state less multicultural, less “woke” and more pro-family and patriotic would help bring expatriate Germans back and rebuild the economy.