Charismatic candidate propels German far-right party to victory after giving it a friendly face

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BERLIN (AP) — Ulrich Siegmund, a charismatic 35-year-old who gave the far-right Alternative for Germany a friendly face and combined promises of a better future with a touch of nostalgia, has led the party to its strongest showing yet.

The party surged to a resounding victory in Sunday's regional election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, but fell just short of a majority as it seeks to form the first far-right state government since World War II.

Siegmund's face was everywhere in posters for Alternative for Germany, or AfD, in a campaign whose motto was “everything is possible.” At campaign events, supporters — some of them wearing T-shirts bearing his image — queued at length for a selfie and a few words with the candidate.

Although his party is known for its pro-Russian and anti-immigration positions and other radical stances, Siegmund has avoided making extreme statements and presents himself as a man of the people. But while that appeals to voters who might otherwise be put off by AfD, he is also uncompromising, insisting after the election that the party won't “throw our positions overboard for coalitions.”

Siegmund studied business management and used to sell air fresheners. But he is no political novice: after a brief period as a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union of current Chancellor Friedrich Merz when he was younger, he joined AfD.

He has been a lawmaker in the state legislature in Magdeburg for 10 years and the co-leader of AfD's parliamentary group there since 2022. He built a social media following as a critic of restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alongside his image as a young and energetic politician, Siegmund has frequently harked back to the past. He said during the campaign that voters want “the old, safe Germany back.”

Born on Oct. 25, 1990, weeks after German reunification, he also has catered to lingering nostalgia for life in communist East Germany among some voters — notably with campaign rides on Simson mopeds, which were produced in the east. On Sunday, he arrived at the polling station in his hometown of Tangermuende on one of the machines.

AfD's use of the mopeds has drawn criticism from the Simson family, whose Jewish ancestors were expropriated by the Nazis in the 1930s and fled to the U.S.

The party's regional branch in Saxony-Anhalt is one of several classified by the domestic intelligence agency as a proven right-wing extremist group.

Siegmund was a participant at a 2023 meeting in Potsdam at which a prominent member of the extremist Identitarian Movement presented his “remigration” vision for deportations of immigrants — a gathering that drew large protests when it came to light a few months later. Siegmund was removed as head of the state legislature's social affairs committee, though he disputed any wrongdoing and said his presence didn't mean an endorsement.

During a recent television debate, incumbent state governor Sven Schulze was asked whether Siegmund is a right-wing extremist.

“I don't want to judge that as far as he personally is concerned, and I can't either,” Schulze replied. “But I know who he surrounds himself with.” The governor added that there were “very extreme people” in Siegmund's orbit.

AfD vehemently rejects accusations of extremism. Last month, Siegmund said that "no one here needs to be afraid, quite the contrary. Every honest person in Saxony-Anhalt will benefit from an AfD-led government.”

Siegmund “manages to come over as likable, open, always smiling,” said Wolfgang Merkel, a political science professor with the WBZ Berlin Social Science Center, adding that he avoids the often abrasive and overtly provocative or ideological language of some other prominent AfD figures.

“He is avoiding major conflicts at present; that doesn't have to mean that he is a moderate, or conservative. He isn't,” Merkel said before the election. He said that “whether he can govern is something he still has to prove.”