What would an AfD government in Saxony-Anhalt really mean?

What would an AfD government in Saxony-Anhalt really mean? September 5, 2026The Alternative for Germany (AfD) could bring in massive changes should it form a government in Saxony-Anhalt. The far-right party, currently way ahead in opinion polls, is hoping to form a single-party government and have its lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, serve as state premier. The Saxony-Anhalt chapter of the AfD is classified by the domestic intelligence agency as "confirmed far-right." Radical tightening of asylum laws In its draft government program, the AfD has promised "deportation from minute one!" if it wins the election in Saxony-Anhalt. The stated goal, according to the party's election program, is simply to deport as many immigrants who have no residency permits as possible. The party has also pledged much stricter asylum rules at all levels: It wants more detention pending deportation, mandatory work for asylum-seekers, and intends to cut all state funding for integration programs, which it refers to as an "asylum industry." Furthermore, it wants to exclude children and adolescents who do not have permanent residency in Germany from attending regular schools. On top of that, a "Remigration Task Force" is to be established within the state government to coordinate the state's asylum policy. Exactly how many of these measures an AfD state government would be legally able to implement remains unclear. Creating special classes for refugees could, for example, be a violation of international and European law. And the question of who can and can't be deported falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government, not that of an individual state. Anti-immigration policy The AfD opposes immigration to Germany. In its government platform, the party calls for a "180-degree turnaround in migration policy," and its stated goal is to reduce the number of immigrants in Saxony-Anhalt. However, the region has been suffering for years from a shortage of skilled workers, particularly in nursing and care for the elderly. The AfD's plan to end this shortage is to encourage Germans who live abroad to come back. To this end, it plans to launch a "return program," including a proposed "return bonus" to help find housing and daycare spots for children. It is unclear how many returnees the AfD anticipates and how much money it has budgeted for the "return program." Saxony-Anhalt has been severely affected by depopulation for over 30 years. No other German state population has shrunk more since reunification in 1990 — from around 2.9 million people then to 2.1 million today. Economic researchers like Reint Gropp, president of the Halle Institute for Economic Research, have warned that an AfD government is likely to exacerbate the skilled worker shortage. "Highly qualified professionals, in particular, have options," he told Die Welt newspaper on Tuesday. "If they feel they are unwelcome or can expect hostility, they will choose other regions." Rapprochement with Russia The 16 state governments have virtually no authority over Germany's foreign and defense policy, though they can influence political debates via the Bundesrat, the chamber of parliament that represents the states. In that context, an AfD state premier would carry considerable political weight. For example, since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, Germany has largely halted oil imports, but the AfD's election platform calls for a rapprochement with Russia and an end to sanctions. The call is largely symbolic, as Saxony-Anhalt is bound by federal sanctions, but an AfD state premier could set a new tone in the Bundesrat. The AfD also wants to expand Russian language instruction in schools and specifically recruit native Russian speakers for this purpose. On Ukraine, meanwhile, the AfD is taking a harder line, calling for a "return offensive" for Ukrainian refugees. Again, a state government cannot deport Ukrainians from Germany — that is regulated by federal policy. Establishing citizen patrols Particularly controversial is the AfD's call for a kind of auxiliary police force. The regular police are "overwhelmed" by the task of ensuring security, according to the AfD's program for Saxony-Anhalt: "We will therefore establish a voluntary citizen patrol as a third pillar of the local security architecture." Legal scholar and criminologist Thomas Feltes, of Ruhr University Bochum, warns against the idea. "It is the police's duty to ward off dangers and ensure the protection of the public. Only the police are authorized to use force in doing so," he wrote in a column for the outlet Legal Tribune Online. A "citizen patrol," he said, would basically be a vigilante group that would have a negative effect on public safety: "Where such groups are active, the fear of crime is only stoked — not only among the participants, but above all among everyone else, and not just among 'concerned' citizens," he wrote. Radical change in social policy A central tenet of the AfD's governing platform is so-called identity politics. It aims to promote a positive image of German history, and advocates a fundamentally different view of the country's past. The party describes the process of coming to terms with German crimes during the Nazi era as the "perpetuation of a guilt complex" and wants to change school curricula accordingly. It has also declared war on social diversity: Rainbow flags, as symbols of diversity, are to be banned in schools. It rejects the world-famous Bauhaus architecture — which flourished in Saxony-Anhalt — as "too globalist" and calls for a "patriotic cultural policy." To that end, it wants to redirect funding away from the many pro-democracy projects that receive state funding for their work. In its platform, the AfD has rejected any continuation of these payments. This article was originally written in German.