Seats open in Saxony-Anhalt, in eastern Germany, for elections in which the far-right AfD party is clearly favored and potentially able to go into government for the first time in its history.
Over 1.7 million voters have until 6pm to elect their representatives, in a crucial consultation for the increasingly unpopular federal coalition led by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Fear in Germany over AfD. A great celebration for democracy in Magdeburg
The great fear is exorcised in a colorful street party around the Magdeburg Cathedral. It’s packed. Intergenerational. Interdenominational.
Multicultural. And united against the possible victory of Ulrich Siegmund’s far-right. The AfD candidate, who with a blatantly radical programme, is aiming for an absolute majority in the Saxony-Anhalt elections, and to bring Alice Weidel’s party to government in a region for the first time. She, the national leader, closes the campaign among her people, in a closed-door event, white jacket, radiant, she walks on stage to the rhythm of the music, and then takes the floor responding to the cry of a little girl in the audience: “Three years and you’re already here! We are the party of young people, of families and of future”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2026/09/06/germania-seggi-aperti-in-sassonia-anhalt-lultima-dest ra-of-afd-great-favorite-great-celebration-for-democracy-in-magdeburg-532434f3-470b-486c-be14-470932f3da46/.”All it’s possible”, shouts the slogan. “And tomorrow Siegmund will write history. Ulli you are the prime minister president of Afd in Germania!”https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2026/09/06/germania-seggi-aperti-in-sassonia-anhalt-lultimo-destra- of-afd-big-favourite-big-party-for-democracy-in-magdeburg-532434f3-470b-486c-be14-470932f3da46/.”Maybe I am the most dangerous man in the Republic, as Spiegel says, because we will no longer let them tell us how we should live. Certainly not here in the east”, exulted the 36-year-old who “positively” declines the plans of the most extremist souls of Alternativa, taking the floor, and still listing some of the crucial projects: away with the NGOs, away with the public service fee.
But there are two Germania distant and very different those who compete for roads and consensus, in the city that Otto the Great made the center of the Empire and of Christianity in the tenth century.
A Land of less than two million inhabitants, where according to polls Afd would have 42% of the vote against 22 for the CDU, putting Chancellor Friedrich Merz under unspeakable pressure, is split between fronts that cannot understand each other. Merz makes his voice heard on the eve: “We will not allow these people to destroy our country with their chatter”, he promises while having to admit that ‘in light of the results of the polls and the electoral results to be feared, what we have done so far has not been sufficient, we need a new narrative for the Germania“.
“I understand if you are afraid, but let’s not let ourselves ruin this magnificent celebration of democracy”, shouts a young man from the stage in Piazza Duomo, speaking to around 15 thousand people who came from all over the country, and especially from the east of Germania. Fear is in the speeches, in the looks, in the testimonies of many. “I really fear that they will make it – an operator from the refugee council explains to Ansa – and the program is clear. NGOs like ours will be eliminated. They want to send them all away, even those who are protected by the right of asylum. And the uncertainty is general. I don’t know how to imagine the coming Monday, if they win”. Her story remains nameless, “I have been threatened in the past, they came to my office. And I was insulted on social media, I wouldn’t want to be identifiable”, she adds. Anxieties that cross many sectors. “The AfD states, and Ulrich Sigmund declares it openly, that on the first day after his election he will abolish MDR. At that point the question arises: can he really do it? And the answer is: not really”, Til Shaebitz, journalist of the public radio and television group covering the Eastern Lander, explained to ANSA. The situation from a legal point of view, he explains, is very complex and the management has been dealing with this threat for years.
“Even if they shut us down here, people would still have to pay the license fee. This promise is completely unrealizable.
This is guaranteed by constitutional law”, he continues. “It doesn’t hold up, it’s nonsense.” The discomfort of many reporters remains: “The party’s behavior towards the media is very professional, but the AfD followers are very aggressive. Now we often follow their demonstrations with bodyguards.”
Not far away, where the Breiter Weg crosses Ulrich Platz, an Afd car procession is about to leave. “Merz looks like the Chancellor of Ukraine, he has forgotten what his mandate is.
And the CDU has betrayed the middle class”, thunders a man in his seventies speaking into a megaphone. Applause, even from young people wrapped in the flag. Mohammed, with his wife and his two children, looks at the cars from the opposite pavement: “We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. If the situation gets worse, of course we will leave. It’s not a good thing for us if they win.” An Afghan family also passes by: no photos, no names. But the father has his say: “I’ve been working here for years with international companies. Each of them has over 1500 foreigners. I have too much experience to believe these stories. What they say about us cannot be done.”