AfD's Anti-Establishment Brand Crumbles as Widening Nepotism Scandal Engulfs Saxony-Anhalt Leadership

MAGDEBURG — In the corridors of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, the Alternative for Germany has spent years perfecting a single message: we are not like the others. The party that built its identity on denouncing establishment corruption now faces a scandal that strikes at the very foundation of that claim — and it is tearing the party apart from within Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality..

The allegations, which surfaced last week through investigations by ZDF, the investigative outlet CORRECTIV, and public broadcasters WDR and NDR, target the entire leadership of the state party branch Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality.. At the center is Ulrich Siegmund, the 35-year-old AfD floor leader and lead candidate for September's state election, where polls project his party at roughly 40 percent. If successful, he would become the first far-right minister-president in post-war German history.

Siegmund's father, Andreas Siegmund, has held three successive positions in AfD colleagues' offices, most recently earning approximately €7,725 per month — nearly €100,000 annually — as a staffer in the Bundestag office of Thomas Korell, a federal AfD lawmaker from the same state, according to contracts reviewed by WDR and NDR last week Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality.. The arrangement exploits a legal gap: German law prohibits legislators from hiring their own family members, but says nothing about hiring a colleague's relatives.

CORRECTIV's investigation, published on February 6, documented at least half a dozen cases within the Saxony-Anhalt AfD apparatus . The parents of state lawmaker Matthias Büttner work in Korell's Bundestag office. Federal MP Claudia Weiss employs three siblings of state legislator Tobias Rausch, as Die Zeit and the regional outlet Volksstimme reported last week Germany's far-right AfD party accused of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality.. Rausch's partner reportedly earns €6,000 monthly for work in the state parliamentary faction. The partner of another state lawmaker, Jan Moldenhauer, and the daughter of Weiss herself are also on the payroll, as T-Online first reported Germany's far-right AfD party accused of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality..

Martin Reichardt, the AfD's state chairman in Saxony-Anhalt, is likewise implicated. According to employment contracts published by WDR and NDR on Monday, two close family members of Reichardt were employed in the Bundestag office of Jan Wenzel Schmidt, another AfD lawmaker from the state, earning between €520 and €800 per month Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality..

The Saxony-Anhalt state parliament began reviewing the employment arrangements this week Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality.. Legal experts note that while the cross-hiring practice is not explicitly prohibited under current Bundestag or Saxony-Anhalt rules, it was banned in Bavaria's state legislature in 2013 after a similar scandal involving CSU, SPD, and Green lawmakers drew public outrage Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality.. Stefan Magen, a professor of public law at the University of Cologne, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung in the context of similar cases that such arrangements "circumvent the spirit of the law" even when they do not violate its letter.

When confronted, AfD Saxony-Anhalt spokesman Patrick Harr declined to comment on "employment relationships, compensation, contract details, or personal relationships," citing data protection laws . Siegmund himself dismissed the allegations as "a massive campaign against the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt" in a video posted on X last week, and said he saw nothing wrong with hiring a colleague's family member, arguing that "trust is what matters most to us" Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality..

But the most damaging attacks are coming from inside the party. Björn Höcke, the influential AfD leader in neighboring Thuringia and figurehead of the party's ethno-nationalist wing — classified as a "proven right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency — seized on the scandal last week to wage open warfare against the Saxony-Anhalt leadership. Writing on X, Höcke warned that the AfD "can only be defeated from within" and declared: "This failure is becoming a possibility" Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality..

Political scientist Alexander Hensel of the University of Göttingen told Deutsche Welle that the internal dimension makes this scandal unusually dangerous. "Unlike usual, this scandal is not only coming from outside the party, but is also being fueled strongly from within, which could lead to further internal conflicts," he said Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality.. Hensel argues that Höcke and the party's radical wing are using the nepotism revelations as evidence that the Saxony-Anhalt leadership has assimilated into the very establishment system the AfD claims to oppose.

AfD co-chairs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla have responded cautiously. Chrupalla conceded in an ARD interview that the hiring practices left "a bad taste" but stopped short of demanding consequences Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality.. Hensel sees this restraint as strategic: "They cannot afford to get involved in a major conflict in an election year when so much is at stake" Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality..

Opposition figures have been quick to highlight the hypocrisy. When former Green Party Economy Minister Robert Habeck faced similar accusations in 2023, it was the AfD's own deputy federal chairman Stephan Brandner who condemned it as "clan criminality" and a "mafia-like network" — language that now rings hollow Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality..

For the AfD, the damage may prove more enduring than any legal consequences. As Hensel put it: "Its self-portrayal as an alternative to the established parties will be damaged. The AfD's populist criticism of the other parties is now turning against itself" Germany's far-right AfD faces accusations of nepotismdw.com·SecondaryThe populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to present itself as anti-establishment and as the voice of ordinary people. Nepotism in political parties, they believe, never goes down well with voters. When former Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party allowed friends or family members of his personnel to be hired back in 2023, AfD officials quickly accused him of "nepotism" and of fostering "clan criminality.. Whether voters in Saxony-Anhalt punish the party in September or shrug off the scandal as politics-as-usual will say much about the resilience of populist anti-establishment messaging — even when the establishment label fits the populists themselves.