AfD's Ulrich Siegmund wins big in Saxony-Anhalt, misses majority

Berlin,UPDATED: Sep 7, 2026 16:54 IST

Ulrich Siegmund, a 35-year-old leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has led the party to its strongest result yet in Germany's eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The party won Sunday's regional election by a wide margin but fell just short of a majority as it looks to form the first far-right state government in Germany since World War II.

Siegmund fronted a campaign built around the slogan "everything is possible" and presented himself as approachable and optimistic, while also invoking nostalgia. Though AfD is known for its pro-Russian, anti-immigration and other hardline positions, he has largely avoided extreme public remarks and insisted after the vote that the party would not "throw our positions overboard for coalitions".

Siegmund's image featured prominently across the campaign, and supporters at events queued for selfies and brief exchanges with him. He studied business management and previously sold air fresheners. He briefly belonged to Chancellor Friedrich Merz's centre-right Christian Democratic Union when he was younger before joining AfD.

He has been a lawmaker in the state legislature in Magdeburg for 10 years and has served as co-leader of AfD's parliamentary group there since 2022. He also built a following on social media by criticising restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alongside his image as a young and energetic politician, Siegmund repeatedly looked to the past during the campaign. He said voters want "the old, safe Germany back". Born on October 25, 1990, just weeks after German reunification, he has also tapped lingering nostalgia among some voters for life in former East Germany, including by using Simson mopeds, which were made in the east. On Sunday, he arrived at the polling station in his hometown of Tangermunde on one of the mopeds.

AfD's use of the mopeds has drawn criticism from the Simson family, whose Jewish ancestors were dispossessed by the Nazis in the 1930s and fled to the United States. The party's regional branch in Saxony-Anhalt is also among several that Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified as proven right-wing extremist groups.

Siegmund was among those present at a 2023 meeting in Potsdam where a prominent member of the extremist Identitarian Movement presented a "remigration" plan involving deportations of immigrants. The meeting prompted large protests when it became public months later. Siegmund was removed as head of the state legislature's social affairs committee, though he denied wrongdoing and said his presence did not amount to endorsement.

In a recent television debate, incumbent state governor Sven Schulze was asked whether Siegmund is a right-wing extremist. "I don't want to judge that as far as he personally is concerned, and I can't either," Schulze said. "But I know who he surrounds himself with." He added that there were "very extreme people" in Siegmund's orbit.

AfD strongly rejects accusations of extremism. Last month, Siegmund said, "no one here needs to be afraid, quite the contrary. Every honest person in Saxony-Anhalt will benefit from an AfD-led government." Wolfgang Merkel, a political science professor at the WBZ Berlin Social Science Centre, said Siegmund "manages to come over as likeable, open, always smiling" and avoids the abrasive or overtly ideological language used by some other senior AfD figures. But Merkel added before the election: "He is avoiding major conflicts at present; that doesn't have to mean that he is a moderate or conservative. He isn't," and said that "whether he can govern is something he still has to prove."

Siegmund's rise has helped deliver AfD's best result so far in Saxony-Anhalt, combining a carefully managed personal image with the party's hardline politics, even as questions over extremism, alliances and its ability to govern remain central to the story.

With PTI Inputs

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