Berlin —
One European nationalist party abruptly ended its grip on power in Hungary over the weekend, while another is riding a wave of popularity to tighten its grip on German politics.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) branch in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt held a party conference over the weekend ahead of state elections in September that could give the once political outcast an absolute majority for the first time in its 13-year history.
In an impassioned speech to around 250 delegates, the far-right party’s leading telegenic candidate in the region, Ulrich Siegmund, laid out exactly what AfD rule in the state would look like.
“We are in favor of consistent deportations,” the popular social media star told parliament in the state capital Magdeburg on Saturday. Party members then adopted a 150-page manifesto for the state that many called “radical.”
In a draft manifesto seen by CNN, the AfD calls for major changes to immigration, education, welfare and energy policies. The group advocates a “complete 180-degree turn” in immigration policy, including deportations and what it calls “reimmigration,” a term with Nazi connotations. Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war will also be targeted.
The AfD will not be able to implement such reforms even if the party wins a majority in September’s state elections, but this is a problem for Berlin’s federal government. But the manifesto provides clear insight into the thinking of a party that was once considered fringe but now poses a threat to the political establishment.
Some of that change can be attributed to immigration. In 2015, Germany opened its doors to almost 1 million refugees, most of them from Syria, and in the next 10 years until 2024 it took in around 3 million.
Germany still grapples with its legacy. In recent years, a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment has fueled the rise of the AfD across the country, following a spate of attacks by migrants in 2024 and 2025, including, among others, the Magdeburg Christmas market attack.
In a speech to party members in the city, Siegmund said Europe was watching what he called “this historic election.”
If the party wins, Saxony-Anhalt will become the second former East German state to elect the AfD as its largest party, after neighboring state Thuringia. Recent opinion polls show AfD’s approval rating hovering around 40%, more than 10 percentage points ahead of rival parties.
The party already has a stronghold in the former East Germany, where its popularity is often attributed to economic disparities with West Germany stemming from the region’s communist past. Many voters resent the economic disparity between the east and west of the country.
This year, however, there are signs that the AfD is gaining ground in western Germany, a worrying trend for traditional German parties such as Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s party, the CDU, and the SPD, which forms part of the ruling coalition.
The AfD performed well in two state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate in March. In both cases, the electorate has changed significantly from the previous election in 2021 by 9% and 11%, respectively.
Although the results were not enough to win either state, they point to a broader trend in which the AfD’s politics and policies resonate with Germans across the country.
The manifesto also does little to quell claims of ties to Russia.
“However, the current anti-Russian policies of established political parties are not in Germany’s interests. They are dividing Europe,” he said, calling for the lifting of sanctions against Russia and the introduction of free Russian language lessons.
This stance is in sharp contrast to that of the German central government, which has strongly supported Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The AfD’s campaign, dubbed “Vision 2026,” is clearly aimed at challenging long-held European values. Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt state has become a major test of its ability to translate public concerns about immigration, identity and living standards into success at the polls, after nationalist parties suffered setbacks in French local elections in March and in Hungary over the weekend.
