2026年9月4日 / 美国东部时间下午12:43 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：安娜·诺里斯基维奇
德国马格德堡——乍一看，马格德堡似乎不太可能成为具有国际影响力的政治剧变的舞台。但本周末，这座仅约24.4万人口的城市将成为一场选举的焦点，这场选举可能让极右翼政党自二战以来首次掌控德国一个州的政权。
马格德堡是原东德萨克森-安哈尔特州的首府，德国选择党（AfD）正希望在周日的州选举中上台执政。
欧洲乃至全球各地右翼民粹主义运动的支持者与反对者都在密切关注，看选择党能否将民调中的显著领先优势转化为实际权力。
最新民调显示，选择党支持率达41%，远超其最主要竞争对手、德国总理弗里德里希·默茨领导的基督教民主联盟（基民盟），后者周五的支持率为23%。
如果选择党获胜，这将是2013年成立的政党的一次突破性进展——该党最初主要是作为反对欧盟的抗议运动起家，此后却大幅右转。
什么是德国选择党？
自2023年以来，萨克森-安哈尔特州宪法保护办公室将该州的选择党列为“已确认的极右翼极端主义”组织。
作为德国国内情报机构的州分支机构，该办公室表示，该州选择党的核心立场违反了德国宪法的基本原则，且“实质上充斥着种族多元主义的种族主义意识形态”。
“该州协会的官员和民选代表发表的众多反穆斯林、种族主义和反犹言论表明，萨克森-安哈尔特州的选择党正是追求这种种族文化同质的国民人口，并呼吁基于出身或宗教排斥他人，”该机构表示。
本次选举中该州选择党的主要候选人、35岁的乌尔里希·齐格蒙德驳斥了这一评估。在8月的一次采访中，他指责州情报机构将其政党作为政治武器。
“它在监控反对党，”他说，“它被用作政治工具。”
他补充道，如果他的政党上台，将考虑废除州情报机构或对其进行重组。
齐格蒙德看起来沉稳、有魅力且平易近人。但8月出版的畅销杂志《明镜》封面将他打上了“德国最危险的人”的标签，指出他兼具讨喜的举止、执掌一州政权的现实可能性，以及激进的执政纲领。
文章指出，齐格蒙德的亲密党友包括“祖国德意志青年”的前官员，这是一个2009年被取缔的新纳粹青年组织。
齐格蒙德曾出席2023年“波茨坦会议”，这是一场德国及其他极右翼人士的集会，奥地利反移民极端分子马丁·泽尔纳在会上提出了他的“再移民”“总体计划”。
这一构想设想将寻求庇护者、合法居住在德国的非德国人，以及未能在德国“同化”的移民背景德国公民全部驱逐到一个未指明的非洲国家。这一计划的变体已成为萨克森-安哈尔特州选择党纲领的核心内容。
该州政党呼吁发起“驱逐和再移民攻势”，设立更多拘留中心以关押待驱逐人员，并主张对获准移民德国的人数设置新的严格限制。目前德国每年的移民人数没有上限，但萨克森-安哈尔特州选择党认为提议的约20万移民上限过高。
这一政策对美国人来说或许并不陌生，毕竟美国曾围绕移民海关执法局（ICE）拘留和特朗普政府的激进驱逐政策引发过争议。但“再移民”的概念被认为更进一步，因为它涉及驱逐合法居住在该国的人员，甚至包括护照持有者。
萨克森-安哈尔特州选择党还因其对德国历史的表述方式受到批评。
州选择党高级政客汉斯-托马斯·蒂尔施奈德曾轻蔑地谈论“纪念遗址那套东西”，并批评对德国历史采取“充满负罪感”的态度。在这个纳粹主义和大屠杀的镇压与有组织大规模暴力记忆影响了至少三代人政治话语的国家，此类言论引发了强烈共鸣。
对选择党而言，通往权力的道路错综复杂
仅在周日选举中获得最多票数并不足以让选择党在萨克森-安哈尔特州掌权。
单独执政并任命该州下一任州长——相当于美国州长——的唯一可靠途径是赢得绝对多数席位，即占据州议会超过一半的席位。
截至周五，民调显示这一目标看起来不太可能实现。
如果该党赢得大量席位，甚至超过其他任何政党，但未能达到单独执政的门槛，选择党将必须找到另一个至少获得5%选票且愿意组建联合政府的政党合作。
这可能是一个极高的障碍。德国其他主要政党长期以来一直排除与选择党合作的可能。
齐格蒙德本人也曾表示，他只会领导一个完全由选择党组成的政府，排除了任何联合执政的可能。
因此，该党可能以较大优势赢得选举，但最终仍无法在该州掌握真正的权力，而最近就有这样的先例。
在邻国图林根州2024年的上次州选举中，选择党赢得的席位比其他任何政党都多，但并未获得决定性多数。其他得票率较低的政党同意携手组建排除选择党的联合政府，因此尽管图林根州的选择党议员人数比其他任何单一政党都多，但他们并未参与州政府的运作。
当地民众怎么说？
选举前夕，移民问题一直是马格德堡街头辩论的主导话题，2024年圣诞市场袭击事件加剧了这一议题。一名来自沙特阿拉伯的医生驾车冲撞狂欢人群，造成5人死亡。
他并非伊斯兰极端分子，自称曾是穆斯林，实际上他批评伊斯兰教，并对极右翼甚至选择党表示同情。但尽管如此，尽管肇事者在德国合法居住了数十年，这一事件仍然触动了民众的神经。
“我觉得袭击事件后局势特别紧张，”一名不愿透露姓名的女性本周在马格德堡告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，“我认为这给了选择党特别大的推动。”
27岁的贾斯汀告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，他支持选择党，并相信该党会采取行动应对“不受控制的移民”。
他说，尤其是叙利亚人——十多年前叙利亚爆发残酷内战时，约有30万叙利亚人作为难民被接纳到德国——未能适应这个欧洲国家的生活。
“选择党对德国有好处，因为他们看到了德国的问题，”他补充说，马格德堡的叙利亚人“行为像动物”。
“很抱歉，但他们带着孩子深夜坐在外面的塑料椅子上，从来都不安静，”他说，同时承认马格德堡也有“行为不端的德国人”，“但现在情况真的很糟。我认为选择党看到了这一点，他们会帮助德国人也获得更多养老金。”
他关于叙利亚人的论调站不住脚，因为已有数万人适应了德国的生活——包括一名2015年以难民身份来到德国，如今已在该国西南部一个村庄担任市长多年的人。
另一位当地选民比尔吉特对该党的看法截然不同。她告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，她“相当害怕选择党”，认为该党“过于极端”。
一对正在约会的情侣自称是40多岁的左翼前朋克，他们告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，他们坚决反对选择党，并对该党在移民问题上的立场表示震惊。
他们认为，鉴于萨克森-安哈尔特州的人口老龄化，外籍劳工过去是、将来也会继续对医疗和社会服务不可或缺。
另一名男子表示，他从德国西部搬到了马格德堡，如果选择党成功上台，他无法想象自己会留在那里。
作为一名年轻女孩的父亲，他特别担心选择党政府会如何改变德国历史的教学方式，包括其最黑暗的纳粹统治和大屠杀篇章。
Could the AfD become Germany’s first far-right party to lead a state since WWII?
September 4, 2026 / 12:43 PM EDT / CBS News
By Anna Noryskiewicz
Magdeburg, Germany— At first glance, Magdeburg may seem an unlikely stage for a political upheaval of international significance. But this weekend, the city of only about 244,000 people will be at the center of an election that could leave a far-right party in control of a German state for the first time since World War II.
Magdeburg is the capital of the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt — where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is hoping to rise to power in Sunday’s state election.
Supporters and opponents of right-wing populist movements across Europe and beyond are watching closely to see if the AfD can turn a significant lead in opinion polls into real power.
The latest surveys show the AfD polling at 41%, well ahead of its closest rival, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which stood Friday at 23%.
Supporters of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party hold placards reading “To save the country,” as they attend AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund’s campaign event ahead of the upcoming Saxony-Anhalt state elections, in Magdeburg, Germany, Sept. 4, 2026. Annegret Hilse/REUTERS
Should the AfD win, it would be an extraordinary breakthrough for a party founded in 2013 largely as a protest movement against the European Union, but which has since shifted far to the right.
What is the AfD?
Since 2023, the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the AfD Saxony-Anhalt as a “confirmed far-right extremist” organization.
According to the office, which is the state branch of Germany’s national domestic intelligence agency, the AfD chapter’s core positions violate fundamental principles of Germany’s constitution and are “substantially permeated by the racist ideology of ethnopluralism.”
“Numerous anti-Muslim, racist and antisemitic statements by officials and elected representatives of the state association demonstrate that the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt seeks precisely such an ethnoculturally homogeneous national population and calls for the exclusion of people on the basis of their origin or religion,” the agency says.
AfD Saxony-Anhalt’s main candidate in this election, 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund, rejects the assessment. In an August interview, he accused the state intelligence agency of being politically weaponized against his party.
“It monitors the opposition,” he said. “It is being used as a political instrument.”
If his party wins power, it would consider either abolishing the state intelligence agency or restructuring it, he added.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) top candidate Ulrich Siegmund poses for photos with supporters as he campaigns ahead of the upcoming Saxony-Anhalt state elections, in Magdeburg, Germany, Sept. 4, 2026. Annegret Hilse/REUTERS
Siegmund comes across as composed, charismatic and approachable. But the August cover of the widely-read Der Spiegel magazine branded him “Germany’s most dangerous man,” noting his combination of a winning demeanor, a realistic chance of gaining power of a state, and a radical platform.
The article noted that Siegmund’s close party associates include former officials from the “Heimattreuen Deutschen Jugend,” a neo-Nazi youth organization that was banned in 2009.
Siegmund was at the 2023 “Potsdam meeting,” a gathering of German and other far-right figures where Austrian anti-immigration extremist Martin Sellner presented his “master plan” for “remigration.”
The concept envisioned asylum seekers, non-Germans living legally in the country, and German nationals with immigrant backgrounds who had failed to “assimilate” in the country, all being expelled to live in an unspecified African nation. A version of the plan has become central to AfD Saxony-Anhalt’s platform.
The state party calls for a “deportation and remigration offensive,” with more detention centers to handle people destined for deportation, and advocating for new, tight limits on the number of people permitted to migrate to Germany. Currently there is no cap on the number of immigrants allowed into Germany every year, but the state AfD party has dismissed suggested caps of around 200,000 as far too high.
It may sound familiar to Americans, given the controversy over ICE detentions and the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policies. But the concept of “remigration” is seen as a step further, given its association with the idea of expelling people living legally in a country, even passport holders.
AfD Saxony-Anhalt has also drawn criticism for the way it refers to Germany’s past.
Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, a leading state AfD politician, has spoken disparagingly of “memorial site stuff” and criticized a “guilt-laden” approach to German history. Such statements resonate in a country where memories of the repression and the orchestrated mass violence of Nazism and the Holocaust have shaped political discourse for at least three generations.
For the AfD, a complicated path to power
Just winning the most votes in Sunday’s election will not be enough to bring the AfD to power in Saxony-Anhalt.
The only guaranteed route to governing on its own and appointing the state’s next premier — the equivalent of a U.S. governor — is to win an absolute majority, taking more than half of the seats in the state parliament.
Polling made that look unlikely as of Friday.
If it wins a large number of seats, even more than any other party, but fails to make the threshold to govern alone, the AfD would have to find another party that also won at least 5% of the votes — and that is willing to partner up in a coalition government.
That could prove a very high hurdle. Germany’s other major parties have long ruled out any cooperation with the AfD.
Siegmund has said himself that he would only lead a full AfD government, ruling out any coalition.
So the party could win the election by a wide margin, but still end up wielding no real power in the state, and there is a recent precedent for that outcome.
The AfD won more seats than any other party in neighboring Thuringia last state election in 2024 — but not a decisive majority. Other parties with lower vote shares agreed to work together to form a coalition without the AfD, so while Thuringia has more lawmakers from the AfD than any other single party, they’re not part of the administration running the state.
What do the locals say?
Migration has been a dominant topic of debate on the streets of Magdeburg in the run up to the election, fueled by a 2024 attack on its Christmas market. A doctor originally from Saudi Arabia drove his vehicle into the revelers, killing five people.
He was not an Islamic extremist, and called himself a former Muslim. He was, in fact, critical of Islam and had expressed sympathy with the far-right and even the AfD. But despite that, and the fact that the perpetrator had been in the country legally for decades, the case still touched a nerve.
The car that was crashed into people at the Magdeburg Christmas market is seen following the attack in Germany, Dec. 21, 2024. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
“I feel that the situation is particularly tense following the attack,” one woman, who declined to give her name, told CBS News this week in Magdeburg. “I think that has given the AfD a particular boost.”
Justin, 27, told CBS News that he supports the AfD and believes the party will take action against “uncontrolled migration.”
He said Syrians in particular, some 300,000 of whom were welcomed into Germany as refugees more than a decade ago during their country’s vicious civil war, have failed to adapt to life in the European nation.
“The AfD is good for Germany because they see Germany’s problems,” he said, adding that Syrians in Magdeburg “behave like animals.”
“I am sorry, but they sit on these plastic chairs with their children outside in the middle of the night and they are never quiet,” he said, admitting that, “there were Germans misbehaving” in Magdeburg, too, “but now it’s really bad. I think the AfD sees that and they will help Germans to also get more pension.”
His argument about Syrians is eroded by the fact that tens of thousands of have adapted to life in Germany — including one who came as a refugee in 2015 and has now been mayor of a village in the country’s southwest for several years.
Another local voter, Birgit, sees the party very differently. She told CBS News she was “quite afraid of the AfD,” which she considers “far too extreme.”
Police walk past counter-protesters waving a flag that reads “Fed up with Nazis,” outside a venue where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was holding its election rally in Magdeburg, Germany, Sept. 4, 2026. Ronny HARTMANN/AFP/Getty
A couple out on a date, who described themselves as left-wing former punk rockers in their 40s, told CBS News they were firmly opposed to the AfD and voiced consternation over the party’s stance on migrants.
They argued that foreign workers are and would continue to be indispensable to the health and social services, given Saxony-Anhalt’s aging population.
Another man said he had moved to Magdeburg from western Germany, and if the AfD does manage to take power, he said he couldn’t imagine staying.
As the father of a young girl, he said he was particularly concerned about how an AfD government might change the way Germany’s history, including its darkest chapter of Nazi rule and the Holocaust, is taught in schools.