For the Saxon AfD politician André Barth it was a smooth march. In the mayoral election in the winter sports resort of Altenberg in the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district, the extreme right candidate won almost 62 percent of the votes on Sunday, in the first round of voting. The four other candidates – all independent – had no chance. The head of a local daycare center performed best, with 21 percent.
“I was surprised by the clarity of the result in the first round,” Marcel Gundel told taz on Monday. He sits on the Altenberg city council as a non-party for the Left and knows the AfD man well. After all, Barth was already at the head of the administration of the city of 7,500 residents before the election, even if only on an interim basis. After the former CDU mayor unexpectedly resigned in March 2025 following disputes with the city council, his AfD deputy Barth took over the helm.
An election victory for the 56-year-old may even have been apparent due to the de facto incumbent bonus. But, says Gundel, also with a view to the unusually high voter turnout of over 70 percent: “I simply cannot understand how many people here have no problem voting for a party that is monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.”
In fact, the Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains district has been a safe right-wing extremist bank for many years. In Pirna, the administrative headquarters of the district, A non-party candidate on the AfD ticket became mayor in 2023 chosen. Since 2017, the AfD has won the direct mandate in every federal election in the district. Altenberg is therefore not an industrial accident. There has also long been an AfD mayor in Groß Schirma in the Central Saxony district. “The East is blue,” said AfD federal leader Tino Chrupalla, celebrating Sunday’s result.
Jokes about terrorist attacks
André Barth is no stranger to the notoriously ethnic-nationalist Saxony AfD. The long-time SPD member has been a member of the Saxon state parliament for the extreme right since 2014. When the AfD weakened in polls in the run-up to the 2019 state elections, he was quoted as saying World on Sunday with the words: “What the party needs now is an attack, Anis Amri 2. Of course you shouldn’t wish for something like that.” This was probably meant to be funny.
In any case, Marcel Gundel describes him as “rather moderate within the AfD”. This is how Barth presented himself as acting head of the town hall. His options are also severely limited. “Altenberg has been in deficit for years,” says Gundel. Barth wasn’t able to change that last year. Whether in the winter service of the huge community or the daycare centers scattered across the 22 districts: cuts are hardly possible here, says Gundel.
Still, the city council member is concerned. Altenberg enjoys a reputation as a winter sports center that extends far beyond Saxony, known for its biathlon arena and the racing sled and bobsleigh track. Gundel himself works in the tourism industry. He says: “The election is causing extremely big waves.” In the Zinnwald district there have already been the first cancellations of overnight stays since Sunday. “I’m afraid this won’t be an isolated incident.”
At the Bobsleigh and Sled Association Germany (BSD) you see it in a much more relaxed way. He can’t say anything against the AfD mayor of Altenberg, “I don’t even know the person,” says BSD sports director and general secretary Thomas Schwab to the taz. In general, the sports official continued: “AfDlers are nationalists. They have never been against sport. This will have no impact on sport.”
Loser in Brandenburg
A look at Brandenburg on Sunday showed that things are by no means as uncomplicated for the extreme right everywhere in East Germany as in Altenberg, Pirna or Großschirma. Despite strong support from the party leadership and right-wing radical media, the AfD lost the runoff election here around the district office in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district. In the end, the CDU candidate Alexander Erbert prevailed against the AfD leader Antje Ruhland. Erbert received 53 percent of the votes, Ruhland-Führer got 47 percent. Once again, the AfD lost the runoff election in Brandenburg.