In a village on the edge of Germany’s Harz mountains, families gathering at a beer-and-bratwurst summer picnic lined up for autographs and selfies from the man they want to lead the country’s first far-right state government since World War II.
Ulrich Siegmund, leader of the Alternative for Germany party in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, beamed with confidence that he’ll secure a victory that will deliver him a majority to lead the state after Sunday’s election. Should he fall short, he said, so be it. The political chaos that’s bound to ensue will last “a few months” — and the party will simply win the next election.
“Either way, we are the future, and I am looking positively toward this election,” Siegmund, an affable 35-year-old former businessman with a crisply side-parted coif, said in an interview in Roblingen am See last week. “We can only win.”
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