The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) issued a radical manifesto for Saxony-Anhalt on Saturday as parties ramp up campaigning for the closely watched state election in September.
The AfD adopted the manifesto at a state party conference in Magdeburg.
On the issue of migration, the manifesto calls hardline policies through a “deportation and remigration offensive.”
However, many migration issues in Germany cannot be regulated at the level of individual states.
That limitation is reflected in the programme’s language stating the party would seek to push such measures through the Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament, in Berlin.
The AfD also seeks to terminate state broadcasting agreements. Under the proposal, public funding would be conditional on what the party describes as a “credible commitment to the democratic order and a patriotic mindset.”
AfD state deputy leader Hans-Thomas Tillschneider said during the presentation of the programme that children do not need anti-racism training, but self-defence courses.
Several hundred people joined protests against the AfD state party conference across Magdeburg, a police spokeswoman told dpa.
The party is expected to post big gains in the election in Saxony-Anhalt, with opinion polls recently putting it at around 40%, well ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative CDU party at roughly 25%. The vote is set for September 6.
Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s candidate to become state premier, struck a confident tone at the conference, calling for an outright majority so the party could govern alone.
“Everything is possible, we just have to do it,” Siegmund told the party faithful in Magdeburg, dismissing concerns about an AfD-led government as “nonsense.”
“There is no reason for any law-abiding citizen to be afraid. There’s no bulldozer rolling through the country flattening everything,” he added.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has classified the party’s regional branch as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization.
Current state premier Sven Schulze, of the CDU, has ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD — a political taboo in Germany.
If the AfD falls short of an outright majority in Saxony-Anhalt, forming a government could prove complex, with a CDU-led alliance likely requiring three or more parties to exclude the AfD.