State election in Saxony-Anhalt | Lost the compass

A real hype arose around the AfD's top candidate Ulrich Siegmund during the election campaign. But behind it is a right-wing extremist party with radical positions. Photo: dpa/Heiko Rebsch For the AfD, the election in Saxony-Anhalt was a sure-fire success. Your top candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, didn't have to do much more than celebrate parties in market squares and cruise around on the Simson. He was almost celebrated as a savior. Because of his almost youthful charisma alone, he seems like an antipode to Friedrich Merz. The Chancellor couldn't help the CDU with his complaining, arrogant entrepreneurial attitude. During his few election campaign visits to Saxony-Anhalt, he was virtually hidden from the public - apparently for fear of being booed locally, in Leuna and Quedlinburg. Merz has now also become a burden on his party. Post-election surveys show that many people voted for the extreme right in protest against federal policy - to distribute a lesson.

A “community of mistrust” has long since formed in Saxony-Anhalt. The sociologist Aladin El-Mafaalani coined the term. He describes the widespread loss of trust in institutions, media, science and courts. Those who doubt are networking via social media and, supported by algorithms, living more and more in their own bubble. Whether what is being spread there is true doesn't necessarily matter. These social networks are an ideal breeding ground for the AfD. The party has become an outlet for these people in Saxony-Anhalt.

Their promise of salvation is based on bringing back the good old days. Siegmund sometimes speaks nebulously about “unwinding.” The course of the previous governments should be corrected - but the AfD does not explain how. At the moment, the character Siegmund is little more than hype. In terms of content, almost everything is open and unformulated. Only the personnel with which the AfD will compete has been determined. State politics under the AfD will be a men's club. What is striking is the behavior of the BSW, which is the only party in the new Magdeburg state parliament that is in close contact with the AfD and can imagine working with it in certain areas despite many differences in content. What is fatal is how the BSW trivializes the party's right-wing extremist stance. Sahra Wagenknecht also recently did this in her telephone exchange with the Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke. However, just being democratically elected does not mean that you are also democratic yourself. The AfD currently does not need to show its ugly, inhumane face - Siegmund's victorious smile is enough. But neo-Nazis have long felt emboldened by the AfD's rise to power. In May, the State Criminal Police Office founded the Soko “Jurex”, which investigates right-wing extremist youth groups that target queer, migrant and left-wing people. Their meeting points have long since become targets.

Just last week, the “Mood” youth club in Gardelegen burned down. The police are investigating in all directions, they say, but many suspect a right-wing attack was behind it. A post-election survey by “Zeit” also shows how the wind has changed. One woman only revealed that she had voted “democratically”. She didn't want to say more - for fear of consequences. The Stendal teacher Max Heckel received a warning from the school authorities because he made negative comments about the AfD at school and was therefore reported. This is how intimidation works, this is how fascism works.

The BSW doesn't want to know anything about it. His top candidate Thomas Schulze prefers to get angry about the Greens, who received support from non-governmental organizations in the election campaign in order to make it into the state parliament. It's as if he had lost his compass - and so have many other people in Saxony-Anhalt.

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