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AfD candidate leads Saxony-Anhalt polls amid neo-Nazi ties

9/1/2026

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Summary

Story summary

AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund is leading polls for the Saxony-Anhalt state election.
The AfD requires an absolute majority to govern alone, yet every other party refuses a coalition with it.
Die Welt reports the AfD parliamentary group includes four former members of the banned neo-Nazi Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend.
DW filmed Siegmund arm-in-arm with men bearing neo-Nazi tattoos such as the Black Sun.

History

Historical Context

In 2020 the Federal Constitutional Court upheld the 2009 ban on the neo-Nazi Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend, citing roughly 200 members and levying a €5 million fine. This follows earlier bans of the SRP in 1952 and the Wiking-Jugend in 1994, showing a decades-long pattern that resurfaces as AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund’s poll lead in Saxony-Anhalt raises fresh worries after the February 2020 Hanau shootings.

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Story summary

AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund is leading polls for the Saxony-Anhalt state election.
The AfD requires an absolute majority to govern alone, yet every other party refuses a coalition with it.
Die Welt reports the AfD parliamentary group includes four former members of the banned neo-Nazi Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend.
DW filmed Siegmund arm-in-arm with men bearing neo-Nazi tattoos such as the Black Sun.

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