AfD local branches in Saxony cooperate with far-right Free Saxons despite official ban
In Saxony, local branches of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) are cooperating with the far-right Free Saxons party, despite a formal incompatibility resolution passed by the federal party in February 2022. A Free Saxons candidate, Stefan Hartung, won the first round of the mayoral election in Aue-Bad Schlema with 29% of the vote after the AfD candidate withdrew, and could win the runoff with AfD voters' support. Official records show Free Saxons representatives sit in AfD parliamentary groups in at least three city councils and one district council.
Local branches of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony are cooperating with the far-right Free Saxons party in multiple city councils and a district council, despite a formal incompatibility resolution passed by the federal party in February 2022, official records show.
In the mayoral election in Aue-Bad Schlema, Stefan Hartung, deputy chairman of the Free Saxons, won the first round with 29% of the vote after the AfD candidate Lars Bochmann withdrew. Bochmann had received 18.5% in the first round. He did not issue a voting recommendation for the runoff, saying voters are "intelligent enough" to decide. Hartung could win the runoff with the support of AfD voters.
Saxony's domestic intelligence service classifies the Free Saxons as a "mobilization machine" within the far-right extremist scene. The party advocates for "Säxit" – Saxony's secession from the Federal Republic of Germany.
AfD Bundestag member Maximilian Krah called former AfD members who joined the Free Saxons "honorable" people. Felix Menzel, spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament, did not distance himself from the Free Saxons when asked by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.). According to Bild newspaper, the AfD district association Erzgebirge considered openly endorsing Hartung; Menzel disputes this.
Official records show Free Saxons representatives sit in AfD parliamentary groups in at least three city councils and one district council. In Leipzig, Free Saxons member Jürgen Günter Butz joined the AfD parliamentary group in 2024 after a year as a non-attached councilor. In Eilenburg, Free Saxons member Uwe Jahn joined the AfD parliamentary group immediately after being elected. When Jahn resigned his mandate months later, Paul Rzehaczek, former chairman of the Young Nationalists (the NPD youth wing), replaced him and was accepted as a guest member. In Zittau, Torsten Sameiske, listed on the Free Saxons website, sits in the AfD parliamentary group. In the Vogtland district council, Sandra Oszczak of the Free Saxons joined the AfD parliamentary group in September 2024.
Saxony AfD leader Jörg Urban said in August 2024 that admitting a Free Saxons candidate still results in an AfD parliamentary group, not a joint one. The federal party's incompatibility resolution, intended to draw a line against the Free Saxons, is being systematically undermined at the municipal level in Saxony.