Saxony-Anhalt on the world stage

Just a few days after the AfD’s victory in Saxony-Anhalt, reactions on the international stage remain limited and predictable: great joy on the one hand, and on the other, warnings of further challenges to European unity. Yet although some are trying to downplay the significance of the election in the small state of Saxony-Anhalt, the global right has been watching this closely. “The whole world is looking to Magdeburg today; the CDU is history,” AfD Bundestag deputy floor leader Sebastian Münzenmaier—one of the most important party strategists in the Weidel camp—is quoted as saying in Die Welt.

In an article for the far-right publication La Derecha Diario, AfD Member of the European Parliament Markus Buchheit describes the reasons for his party’s electoral success and concludes that this reflects a German trend linked to Latin America. After all, Javier Milei has shown that it is possible to break with the old system: “This development was initially particularly evident in Latin America. Now it is spreading to Germany and throughout Europe as well. The political, economic, and historical circumstances may differ, but there is a common phenomenon: the rejection of the notion that the old political structures and their forms are untouchable."

As early as the start of the AfD’s election campaign in Magdeburg on June 18, Anna Paulina Luna (Republican Party—U.S.), Hermann Tertsch (VOX—Spain), and Herbert Kickl (FPÖ—Austria) had sent video messages of support. Shortly after the first exit polls were released, Luna congratulated “her friends from the AfD,” Ulrich Siegmund and Alice Weidel. Ron Nehring of the Leadership Institute, who had just been in Berlin attending the Berlin Campaign Conference, directly contradicted Luna, saying, “They are not our friends, and in fact are a deeply anti-American party.” Incidentally, among Buchheit’s assistants in the European Parliament is Juan Ignacio (Nacho) Oyarzú, the vice-chair of the Foro Panamericano de Jóvenes Políticos and former Argentine coordinator of the Patriots Network in Buenos Aires.

Elon Musk also reacted to the AfD’s success on his own social media platform, X, with a “Well done!”, which Siegmund immediately picked up on, expressing his hope for “strong and constructive cooperation” with Musk. The Guardian reported this and also cited the assessment by the German Economic Institute that the AfD’s immigration policy would be “catastrophic” for the state, which has an aging, shrinking population and relies heavily on foreign workers. A trillion-strong investor from the U.S. would, of course, be a blessing for Siegmund. A potential AfD government would thus benefit from the AfD’s international network, which has already led delegations from Saxony-Anhalt to the U.S. and to meetings with the Austrian FPÖ for political discussions.

You can find further details in our report “The AfD Goes ‘completely Trump’” from 2025 as well as in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard’s coverage of a strategy meeting between the AfD and the FPÖ in April of this year.