After its historic win in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD’s incoming parliamentary group includes a range of controversial figures revealed at a photocall led by Ulrich Siegmund in Magdeburg. German media and broadcasters identified 39 MPs-elect representing constituencies across the state, among them a 78-year-old who admitted he worked for the East German Stasi focusing on citizens who wanted to emigrate, and a man a court confirmed had appeared in pornography and who was convicted of stealing hotel bedding and previously expelled from university for falsifying his school leaving certificate. Two MPs are under criminal investigation for allegedly trying to continue activities of the banned neopagan, nationalist and antisemitic group Artgemeinschaft, one of whom is also accused of weapons law violations; both deny the allegations. A ZDF investigation found some AfD ministers-elect had pasts in the outlawed Homeland-Loyal German Youth group, with one individual having led the organisation and an AfD adviser authoring a biography described as an "homage to national socialism." Several prospective MPs have pro-Kremlin links and some visited members of the MAGA movement in Washington. Siegmund, unanimously re-elected as the AfD parliamentary group leader, dismissed two under-investigation members as "the bad guys" and said the party would await investigative results, after he also drew criticism for linking German arms production to the party’s planned deportation offensive. The revelations increase scrutiny of the AfD as it seeks to form government in Saxony-Anhalt and could feed legal and political challenges to members-elect.
