AfD launches its Saxony-Anhalt campaign with confidence
The AfD opened its campaign for the Saxony-Anhalt state election in Magdeburg; lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund was already talking about a term as state premier. In the polls the party widened its lead over the CDU/CSU again. Hundreds demonstrated against the event.
Around 50 days before the Saxony-Anhalt state election, the AfD celebrated itself as the election winner at its campaign launch in Magdeburg, according to Welt; lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund spoke of „45 percent plus X“ and his first official act as a possible state premier. Party leader Alice Weidel sharply attacked the federal government and described the simultaneous resignation of Jens Spahn as overdue. The left-liberal Sueddeutsche Zeitung turns its attention to an internal power struggle behind Weidel's laboured good cheer. Die Zeit and the Berliner Zeitung highlight the hundreds of counter-demonstrators at the exhibition grounds. Across the camps, the election is regarded as a mood test; what is disputed is whether the AfD can translate its poll ratings into governing power, while the domestic intelligence service classifies the party as confirmed right-wing extremist.