Thousands in Berlin Demonstrate Against AfD After Sachsen-Anhalt Election

For the first time in Germany's post-war history, the far right is within reach of leading a state government. The AfD won Sunday's election in Sachsen-Anhalt with 43.8% of the vote, its best-ever state result and the strongest showing by any single party in the state since 1990. Tactical voting appears to have cost it an outright majority, but it may still take power: the BSW has said it will abstain in a third round of voting for minister-president, where a simple majority is enough to win.

The political tremors were felt in Berlin, too, where thousands took to the streets around the Brandenburg Gate on Monday to protest the far right's advance.

He was convicted of theft, for stealing towels and bedsheets in bulk from hotels ... [and] has been the subject of rumours about appearances in pornographic films. Rau was elected with 48.1% of first votes.

Police put the number of attendees at 5,000; organisers claimed closer to 14,000. Either way, the event was largely peaceful, attended by the Green and Left parties' lead candidates for this month's Berlin election.

It is worth paying some attention to just how extreme the AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt actually is. The branch is classified by Germany's domestic intelligence office as "confirmed right-wing extremist." The federal party was given the same label by the national Verfassungsschutz in 2025, but a court suspended that classification in February pending a full hearing, so the party nationally currently sits one rung down, as a "suspected case." Sachsen-Anhalt's own classification hasn't been paused.

With that in mind, an X thread yesterday brought some of the more colourful backgrounds among the new intake to light. Let's take a quick look at three of them:

There is Phillipp-Anders Rau, who a former journalism student who got his spot in school by forging his diploma, something he tried to explain away by saying he was addicted to cocaine. He was subsequently declared insolvent and convicted of theft, for stealing towels and bedsheets in bulk from hotels. He has also been the subject of rumours about appearances in pornographic films. Rau was elected with 48.1% of first, or direct candidate, votes.

There is Ronny Kumpf, also long rumoured to have worked in the erotic film industry; in 2019 an AfD office in Magdeburg was vandalised with graffiti reading "Sex Gott," apparently aimed at Kumpf. He has also promoted Ein Prozent, a group under Verfassungsschutz observation for right-wing extremism, on Instagram. Kumpf was elected with 35.6% of first votes.

And then there is Sebastian Koch, who has reportedly been identified in decade-old footage of neo-Nazi combat-training sessions near Chemnitz, and who attended a party this summer alongside people linked to the banned Artgemeinschaft group; his property was raided by police in late August as part of the resulting investigation. Koch was elected with 41.5% of first votes.

The list goes on.

Back in Berlin, our own election is drawing near. We published our election guide yesterday, together with Refuge Worldwide: a party-by-party breakdown of the five leading groups. We recommend you take a look, and vote if you can.