Election shockwave: Meet the smiling new leader set to bring hard-right upheaval to Germany

September 7, 2026 — 5:09am

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London: German politician Ulrich Siegmund has surged to success with a simple promise to return his community to the more comfortable times of the past.

“We want our good, old, safe Germany back at last,” was one of his most common refrains when urging voters to back him to lead the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Voters responded with a thumping endorsement for Siegmund and the party he leads, the Alternative für Deutschland, known as the AfD.

Exit polls showed the AfD gained 44.5 per cent of the vote when the polling stations closed at 6pm on Sunday (Monday AEST).

The outcome left no doubt about the will of the people, given that the next major contender won only 18.5 per cent of the vote. This result, for the Christian Democratic Union, was a brutal rebuff to the foremost conservative party in the country.

It was also another sign of the way the public has turned against the CDU’s national leader, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as he struggles to deliver on promises to bring better times to the country.

For Siegmund, the result........

© The Age