AfD wins 39 seats in Saxony-Anhalt; former Stasi official elected
AfD took 39 mandates in Saxony-Anhalt and is in position to lead government formation; the list included a former Stasi official.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) emerged as the strongest party in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, winning 39 seats in the regional parliament and finishing three mandates short of an outright majority. The result puts AfD in a leading position to try to form the state government.
Campaign and profile
The AfD campaign was led by candidate Ulrich Zigmund, a former member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who attracted conservative voters dissatisfied with the federal CDU under Friedrich Merz. After more than a decade of attempting to rebrand as a responsible political alternative and to distance itself from neo-Nazi and extremist connections, the party secured its best result in the state.
However, the party’s parliamentary list included several controversial figures who will now represent citizens in the state legislature.
Among the elected is 78-year-old Frank-Ronald Bishof, who has acknowledged serving as a senior official in the former East German secret service, the Stasi. Local reports say he took part, covertly for 12 years, in suppressing anti-communist demonstrations and in monitoring citizens who applied to leave the country. When pressed about his past service, he said: "I conscientiously carried out my duties according to the laws at the time and declined to comment on details of the service."
Despite the AfD’s frequent accusations that the CDU enabled elements of communism, Bishof won his electoral district by a comfortable margin, underscoring the party’s consolidation of conservative protest votes in the region.
Photo: социјални мрежи)
