The far-right party is polling at up to 43% ahead of a looming election, as voters rank jobs, wages and the economy among their top concerns
BERLIN – In 11 days, voters in Saxony-Anhalt will go to the polls and for the first time, the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) could emerge with enough support to put forward the regional state’s minister-president.
Recent polls put the nationalist, anti-immigration party at as much as 43%, putting it well ahead of the governing CDU, which is polling at just over 20%.
Saxony-Anhalt’s AfD branch has been classified by the state’s domestic intelligence agency as “confirmed far-right extremist”. This has done little to dent the popularity of its lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, who is sometimes greeted like a pop star at campaign rallies.
Focusing on migration and asylum, Siegmund claimed in a recent interview that Germany is “giving money away to the entire world,” highlighting that over €20 billion in Bürgergeld (welfare) goes to non-German citizens.
