# The AfD's dark agenda for Germany

> A far-right party just took 43.8% in an eastern German state, and its 258-page manifesto spells out exactly what comes next.
- Title: The AfD's dark agenda for Germany · TIME | Shortify
- Summary: A far-right party just took 43.8% in an eastern German state, and its 258-page manifesto spells out exactly what comes next. The AfD is not hiding what it…
- Keywords: germany, far right, afd, elections, populism, AfD's, dark, agenda, TIME
- Source: TIME — https://time.com/article/2026/09/12/afd-election-germany-trump-maga
- Author: John Kampfner
- Published: 2026-09-12T10:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 3 min
- Topics: germany, far right, afd, elections, populism
## 43.8% and no apologies
The Alternative for Germany took 43.8% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt, a state of two million people in the former East. Its slogan: "Everything is Possible."

> Everything is Possible
## The plan is public
Before the campaign, the AfD published a 258-page manifesto under the motto "Das Land Zuerst," or "The Country First." Nothing about the agenda is hidden.

> Das Land Zuerst
## Deporting citizens
The manifesto promises mass deportations under a "remigration" program that reaches naturalized German citizens, aimed particularly at people who do not look or sound German.
## More Bismarck, less Hitler
It would rewrite school history to stress imperial glory and national power, shrinking Germany's postwar culture of remembrance around Nazism and the Holocaust.

> more Bismarck and less Hitler
## Only "normal" families
Benefits and legal recognition go to heterosexual households. LGBTQ families and others the party labels "deviant" get neither.
## Cheap gas from Moscow
The party opposes military aid to Ukraine and argues that friendly relations with Russia would bring cheaper energy and lower prices at home. Domestic intelligence has classified its Saxony-Anhalt chapter as right-wing extremist.
## Why it sells
Berlin's coalitions offer budget cuts, job losses to Chinese competition, and billions for rearmament. The AfD offers the secure world of yesteryear, and it sounds simple.
## The 170,000 who came back
The AfD pulled over 82,000 voters from the governing CDU. It also dragged 170,000 non-voters, about a tenth of the local electorate, back to the ballot box.
## A parallel universe
Many of these voters think the Nazi past is overblown and see centrist politics as a deep state working against their values. A Leipzig activist shouted "Lügenpresse" at a broadcaster and could only explain it as: they don't listen to people like me.

> They don't listen to the likes of me
## Trump is the model
Winner Ulrich Siegmund, 35, a former fragrance salesman, ran a slick campaign and names Trump as his model. Even as the U.S. war in Iran pushed up oil prices and squeezed German budgets, the AfD stood by Washington.
## MGGA
Trump's November 2025 National Security Strategy pledged support for "patriotic" movements in Europe. After the result he posted that the populists had a really big night, signing off "MGGA!!!"

> Wow, the populist party in Germany had a really big night.
## Three seats short
The postwar constitution forces coalitions so no single party can hoard power. The AfD missed an outright majority in the 83-seat parliament by three seats.
## The firewall bends
To govern, Siegmund must cut a deal with a rival or peel off defectors. Mainstream parties still refuse to work with him, but that resolve is ebbing, and it goes to the wire before October.
## Merz is sinking
The chancellor promised to halve the AfD's support and watched it double. His "autumn of reforms" is stuck in Parliament, his poll numbers are historically low, and two more regional elections are coming.
## A tour de force of fury
Merz vowed not to move one millimeter on Ukraine, even though 57.7% of Saxony-Anhalt backed parties that question it. Then Alice Weidel took the floor and boasted that the AfD had "pulverized" everyone in its way.

> contempt for democratic institutions
## Key takeaway

The AfD is not hiding what it wants. It published the plan, won nearly half of Saxony-Anhalt, and the only thing still standing between it and power is a firewall that is starting to bend.