A first-place finish for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the upcoming Saxony-Anhalt elections on Sept. 6 is almost assured. The party is expected to score at least 40 percent of the vote, enabling it to outperform all other parties by a wide margin. Anything less than an absolute majority, which would require around 43 percent or higher, will be seen as a defeat. However, for the AfD’s long-term prospects, this “defeat” may indeed be the best outcome for the party.

Should the AfD win control of all of Saxony-Anhalt, it would be its first time in power, and suddenly, it would have to show results, including managing budgets, dealing with administrative constraints, wrestling with state-level legal limits, and facing potential crises. Left-wing parties, along with establishment parties like the Christian Democrats (CDU), can still put up major roadblocks that will stymie the AfD’s effectiveness to govern even at the state level.

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With power comes scrutiny and potentially scandal. Any false moves and the AfD’s mishaps could be amplified to a disproportionate level by a press friendly to the left-wing and establishment German parties.

If the AfD falls just short of an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt, the CDU would be forced to form a ridiculous and complex multi-party coalition with parties it should not realistically ever partner with, including the Left Party and BSW, making it appear as if it were some kind of cartel player ooking to do anything to stay in power. In fact, this could create a severe internal crisis for the CDU, which officially maintains an incompatibility resolution banning formal cooperation with both the AfD and The Left. Remarkably, Merz is already talking about cooperation with the Left Party, a position that no doubt many CDU voters would balk at.

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In such a scenario, the AfD’s chances at obtaining federal power could only be boosted. There are already some reports that many in the CDU privately want an AfD victory.

Saxony-Anhalt is also one of the smallest states in Germany and federal and EU rules still govern much of the actions the AfD would be able to take, making the party look weak and ineffectual. It is worth looking at the individual member states within the EU, where the leaders of entire countries, like prime ministers like Giorgia Meloni, are effectively blocked from a range of policies, including strict immigration enforcement and deportation. Courts, EU policies, and treaty conventions appear to turn conservatives into mush.

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At the individual state level, the AfD will have even less power. The AfD could still fall back on the argument that there is little it can do at the state level, but voters are not very receptive to such arguments. Voters typically punish any sign of weakness. It is never enough for a political party to say: “We cannot do this because of XYZ.” Voters only see “we cannot do this.”

The AfD cannot suddenly turn on the taps for cheap Russian energy, it cannot deport illegal migrants with ease, and it cannot implement an economic turnaround policy that will rejuvenate an eastern region that continues to struggle. That would all require serious federal power. Even then, there are powerful constraints in place.

Those on the right are notorious for promoting “victory through defeat” – and lots of defeat. It could even be labeled an “accelerationist” strategy. It is valid to criticize this approach, but losing does have its time and place.

The AfD can still benefit from victory

Of course, an AfD victory is not without its merits. It is worth evaluating the benefits while being realistic about their limitations.

While a victory and the arduous nature of governing could puncture the mystique of the AfD for many voters, it would also normalize the party in the eyes of Germans. The AfD would in effect be governing an entire state on its own, calling its own shots in education, industry, and security. All the credit for any successes goes directly to the party. Even if the AfD fails to enact many of its reforms, the sky will not fall either. Saxony-Anhalt will not unleash pogroms against migrants and life will mostly continue as normal.

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Still, the risks are high for the AfD. The common thread among voters is extremely high dissatisfaction with the ruling parties, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and business-as-usual politics, which all the other parties represent to varying degrees. Critics of the AfD claim the party is merely a “protest party” that voters are supporting only due to the disastrous policies of the current government. The reality is that those “disastrous policies” are core policies built into the operating systems of these parties, which call for more mass immigration, more deindustrialization, and less security for citizens.

At between 28 to 29 percent of the vote, the AfD has long since catapulted out of the realm of mere “protest party” and now represents a serious political force — a reckoning for the establishment parties and left-wing cartels that have long dominated German politics. Nevertheless, if the CDU and SPD, for example, were more competent, there is no doubt that the AfD’s support would take a hit. There are still protest voters backing the AfD who can switch their allegiance quickly.

The question is now how high the AfD can go at the federal level. What is the party’s limit and what is truly holding it back from breaking the 30-35 percent mark in federal polling? The AfD’s sister party in Austria, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), has long since achieved such numbers in terms of support.

The AfD still has plenty of growth that it can achieve in conservative Western states like Bavaria, but it will never obtain an absolute majority at the federal level. Forming a coalition with the CDU is still the party’s long-term goal. If the CDU is forced to form an absurd coalition in Saxony-Anhalt, it could push the CDU to be more open to an AfD alliance in the future at the federal level, as a choir of dissenting voices grow within the CDU over the plethora of left-wing alliances being formed across Germany.

The AfD ultimately needs to make a major breakthrough in federal elections, where the true power lies. Saxony-Anhalt is currently the only state in Germany where AfD has a chance of governing with an absolute majority. Perhaps in the future, Saxony may also fall into this category, but at the most, that would then be two states. The path to power does not lie through governing states, they can only be a stepping stone at the very most.

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Sven Hüber, the deputy federal chairman of Germany’s Police Union (GdP), has stepped down from his post with immediate effect following public scrutiny regarding his service as a political officer for East Germany’s border guards. Hüber recently made headlines for his stance against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

The resignation follows investigative reporting by the German media outlet Apollo News alleging that Hüber committed severe abuses at the East German border during the Cold War prior to joining the German Federal Police. The report claims that during his tenure as an SED political officer, Hüber placed a service weapon into the mouth of a captured East German refugee in the “death strip” and physically assaulted the individual while they were pinned to the ground.

Hüber vehemently denied the allegations, framing the coverage as a coordinated effort to dismantle his reputation. In a formal press statement, he characterized the reporting as “defamatory” and a “character assassination,” explaining that his resignation was intended to “avert the daily new, untenable accusations from the GdP during the necessary legal proceedings.”

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The finger is also being pointed at right-wing media, with Hüber’s attorney Johannes Eisenberg stating the claims began in “right-wing extremist media and from there overflowing into well-known inflammatory media.” Eisenberg firmly maintained that his client “did not commit the misanthropic acts spread about him there,” adding that Hüber would refrain from further public comment as he prepares to challenge the outlets in court.

The GdP similarly confirmed it plans to pursue criminal and civil legal action against authors and publishers behind what it deems false accusations, targeted threats, and distorted reporting.

Hüber’s tenure at the union had already generated significant friction prior to the recent revelations.

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Writing in the official GdP members’ magazine, Hüber recently urged police officers to actively counter a potential AfD administration in Saxony-Anhalt, arguing that “police officers personally take on enemies of the constitution because the oath they take stipulates the same” and asserting that an “AfD seizure of power does not release any civil servant from their oath.”

Since Hüber’s resignation, his anti-AfD article, entitled “Saying a True No,” has been scrubbed from the GdP website, according to Apollo News, but is still archived in the police union’s newsletter.

The AfD is extremely popular in that state, reaching 43 percent support of the voting population in recent polling. Recently, a mayor in the state came under fire on social media for threatening to dismiss firefighters who posed for a photograph with Ulrich Siegmund, the highly popular AfD lead candidate in the state.

Regardless of whether the claims about torture prove true or not, Hüber has his own history of reportedly making false allegations against his rivals. He previously faced backlash for attempting to block the lifetime professorship of conservative academic Stephan Maninger at the Federal Police Academy using claims that were ultimately shown to be groundless. Attorney Ralf Höcker subsequently alleged that GdP federal chairman Jochen Kopelke backed Hüber during that campaign, using union membership fees to support the effort.

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The controversy triggered a wave of exits within the organization. The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung confirmed that a “low double digits” number of police officers in Saxony-Anhalt severed their union membership following the initial reports.

Hüber finalized his decision to step down following discussions with GdP federal chairman Kopelke. The union has not yet named a replacement to fill the vacant deputy chair position.

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