AfD pushes for a second eastern district as a Free Saxons candidate nears Germany's first directly elected far-right mayor since 1945
The AfD fielded candidates for district administrator in Saalekreis, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt and Ostprignitz-Ruppin on June 7, seeking to add to the single such post it already holds in Sonneberg, while in the Saxon town of Aue-Bad Schlema the more radical Free Saxons' Stefan Hartung went into a mayoral runoff after leading the first round with 29 percent. The four races are read as a barometer for state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6 and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 20, with the AfD polling 29 percent nationally to Chancellor Friedrich Merz's 21 percent. Merz warned of a potential AfD "big bang" breakthrough, even as the party's branches in all three districts remain under intelligence surveillance as right-wing extremist.
Four normally low-turnout elections in eastern Germany drew unusual attention on June 7. In three districts -- Saalekreis in Saxony-Anhalt, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in Thuringia and Ostprignitz-Ruppin in Brandenburg -- the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) fielded strong candidates for the powerful post of district administrator (Landrat). The party already holds one such position, in Sonneberg, Thuringia; winning a second would be another symbolic breakthrough. Its candidate in Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, state MP Thomas Benninghaus, belongs to the party's most hardline faction, led by Bjorn Hocke, and the AfD's branches in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg are all under surveillance by German intelligence as right-wing extremist groupings.
In the Saxon town of Aue-Bad Schlema, about 19,000 people, a candidate from the even more radical Freie Sachsen (Free Saxons) faced a mayoral runoff that could produce the first directly elected far-right mayor in Germany since 1945. Stefan Hartung, a co-founder of the party, led the first round last month with 29 percent and faced Marcus Hoffmann of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), who needed to rally opposition voters to block him. Freie Sachsen campaigns for greater autonomy for Saxony, opposes the federal government's immigration and trade policies, and says it wants to involve the historic Saxon royal family in the state's future. Polls closed at 6:00 p.m. local time, with results due later in the evening.
The four races were seen as a test before key eastern state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6 and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 20 -- votes widely expected to put the AfD within reach of its first state premiership. A new INSA survey put the AfD at 29 percent nationally, ahead of Merz's CDU/CSU alliance at 21 percent, the Greens at 14 percent, the SPD at 12 percent and the Left Party at 11 percent. Some 77 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with Merz's performance, six points more than in April.
Speaking on Saturday at a party conference in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Merz warned against what he called a potential "big bang" breakthrough by the AfD in the regional polls. "There is more at stake than just the future of a government," he said. "If we are not good enough, then just such a big bang will happen." The contests come as politically motivated crimes in Germany reached a new high in 2025, according to Welt am Sonntag.