In Saxony-Anhalt around 1.7 million voters went to the polls to renew the regional parliament of the eastern German state. According to exit polls, the far-right AfD would have won with a result of 44.5% for candidate Ulrich Siegmund, 35. While the outgoing minister-president Sven Schulze, of the CDU, would have taken 18.5%. The Greens would stand at 9% and Sahra Wagenkneckt's BSW at 5% (threshold). The Linke would get 9.5%, the Social Democrats 8% and the Liberals 2%.
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After the exit polls, Siegmund declared that the "main issue" is related to the fact that "other political forces do not want to collaborate with us". "But this is their problem", remarked the ultra-right candidate, adding that "it is clear that state responsibility is needed in governing, but this is not about migration policies".
Siegmund himself is the most talked about man of the moment. It is known that he did not follow a conventional training path for an ordinary politician, in fact, when he was a teenager, he worked as a waiter and a construction worker, before starting an apprenticeship as an export trader. After graduating in business psychology and business administration at a distance university in Hamburg, he launched a business selling air fresheners and perfumes.
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Ulrich Siegmund - ©Ansa
A member of the conservative Christian Democratic party in his youth, Siegmund soon joined the AfD and entered the regional parliament ten years ago now, in 2016. His visibility clearly increased during the Coronavirus pandemic, when his videos on social media, in which he criticized the lockdown measures, earned him hundreds of thousands of followers. Subsequently, in 2022, he became co-leader of the AfD parliamentary group in Magdeburg and was nominated, in May 2025, as the main candidate for today's elections with over 98% approval among his party colleagues.
The appeal among the population today has reached important levels, so much so that wherever Siegmund goes, long lines of admirers form eager for a photo with him. Videos of his campaign events continue to be published successfully on social media. "Together, we will take back our country," he chanted while speaking to his constituents. He rarely addresses concrete political content and when he is teased by his opponents, he keeps a smile and tends to deflect answers. He has been given the label of "Germany's most dangerous man": this is how Der Spiegel magazine portrayed him on a recent cover. And Siegmund was seen several times autographing copies of that magazine.
The AfD's leading candidate also ended up in the meat grinder. In the past he was criticized after participating in a meeting in Potsdam, in 2023, during which Martin Sellner, former leader of the far-right identitarian movement, spoke of "remigration". The regional parliament of Saxony-Anhalt then removed him as chairman of the social affairs committee. Earlier this year he came into the spotlight again because, according to media reports, his father received more than 7,500 euros a month as a parliamentary assistant to a party colleague. Siegmund himself, however, toned down all the criticism he received.
Ulrich Siegmund greets admirers - ©Ansa
Siegmund lives with his wife Julia and a daughter in the small town of Tangermünde on the Elbe River. He loves going to the gym and searching for metal with a metal detector. During the election campaign, he tried to promote an image of himself as a more moderate exponent compared to the much talked about party program, while not distancing himself politically from his more radical colleagues. Among his supporters stands out a figure linked to the harsh repression measures sought by the Trump administration against unauthorized immigrants, namely the former ICE commander, Gregory Bovino. Bovino himself wished Siegmund good luck with a message on X. "Give them hell on Sunday".
Ulrich Siegmund and his wife Julia - ©Ansa
He considers the current situation in Germany on issues such as immigration, energy policy or the public media to be deeply worrying. In fact, the AfD has benefited from public outrage against traditional parties, as well as from the more recent wave of inflation linked to the war in Iran. Siegmund, skilled in the use of social media, seems to have managed to positively intercept this discontent.
