Intelligence service in German state Saxony confirms AfD as extremist

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been categorized as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization in the eastern German state of Saxony, the domestic intelligence service there announced on Friday.

"There is no longer any doubt about the right-wing extremist orientation of the AfD Saxony," Dirk-Martin Christian, head of Saxony's State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV), said in Dresden.

Saxony is the third German state to issue this classification, after a similar decision by Saxony-Anhalt last month and by Thuringia in 2021. The designation gives the security services greater authority to monitor the regional party and conduct surveillance.

Nationally, the AfD is categorized one level lower: It is formally under suspicion as a far-right extremist organization.

Friday's announcement comes ahead of key state elections in Saxony next year, as well as in neighbouring Thuringia and Brandenburg. The AfD is expected to do well in all three states, although a new party formed by Sahra Wagenknecht, a former leading light in Germany's hard-left Die Linke (The Left) party, could potentially carve off support as it also supports a tough migration stance.

Mainstream parties consistently rule out governing with the AfD.

The AfD has been under scrutiny for four years in Saxony and has been considered a suspected extremist organization since February 2021.

During this time, the LfV said it had gathered a large number of statements and political demands from senior officials and elected AfD representatives in particular.

"Taken together, these prove beyond doubt that the local AfD state association is pursuing anti-constitutional goals," Christian said.

In its report, the LfV refers to the party's policies on migration, its citizenship criteria and hostility towards Islam and Muslims, as well as anti-Semitic positions. It also finds that the far-right group began agitating against the state during the coronavirus pandemic.

In the 2019 state elections, Saxony's AfD received 27.5% of the party vote. In the most recent voter survey, it achieved 33%, putting it on a par with the Christian Democrats of former chancellor Angela Merkel.

The AfD's signature issue is a hard-line anti-immigration stance, and the party is profiting from increased concern among many German voters over rising numbers seeking asylum in the country.

The party is polling nationally at around 20%, amid high dissatisfaction with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-way coalition.