AfD on democracy and the state

The AfD wants to base its governing policy solely on the well-being of people in Saxony-Anhalt. What the EU, Ukraine, the UN migration compact, or the Paris climate conference want or require should not serve as the benchmark.

The AfD wants to make policy only for the people of Saxony-Anhalt. The EU should not set the standard. Ukraine should not either. The same goes for agreements on migration and climate.

The platform names four reference points an AfD government would not follow: the EU in Brussels, Ukraine, the United Nations migration compact, and the Paris climate conference. The party criticizes that tax money is spent on immigrants and on Ukraine while roads fall into disrepair. It also opposes wind turbines and solar installations, high electricity prices, and costly energy retrofits of homes. In addition, it says it wants no war with Russia and peace in Europe.

The AfD wants to reduce bureaucracy that, in its view, constrains citizens and public administrations. Municipalities are to receive more money. The party holds that enough funds exist but are being spent in the wrong places.

The AfD wants less red tape. Red tape means many rules and forms from government offices. Cities and towns should get more money. The AfD says there is enough money, but the state spends it wrongly.

The platform calls for more freedom for public administration and municipalities as well. Citizens are to be less burdened by regulations, and agencies are to impose fewer requirements on one another. Funding for cities and towns is to increase. On financing, the party says existing money needs to be distributed differently.

The AfD wants to write parents' right to raise their children into Saxony-Anhalt's constitution. It rejects enshrining separate children's rights, arguing this would make state intervention in families easier.

The AfD wants to change the state constitution. It should say: Parents have the right to raise their children. The AfD is against separate children's rights in the constitution. It believes the state would then interfere too much in families.

Article 11 of the state constitution would get a new paragraph 1a. It would state that caring for and raising children is the natural right and primary duty of parents. The program interprets the call for children's rights in the constitution as an attempt to strip parents of authority over upbringing, up to removing children. In the AfD's view, children's rights are already protected by the Basic Law.

The AfD wants to dissolve the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung (State Agency for Civic Education) in its current form and replace it with a state institute for civic-political education and cultural identity. The platform accuses the agency of lacking neutrality and of funding left-wing associations.

The AfD wants to close the State Agency for Civic Education. The party says this agency is not neutral. A new institute should replace it. It should deal with civic education and cultural identity.

In the platform's view, the agency uses public money to support partners such as "Miteinander e. V." and the network "Schule ohne Rassismus" (School Without Racism), which it classifies as left-wing to far-left. It says conservative and patriotic positions are disparaged under the banner of the "fight against the right." The agency is therefore unable, the platform argues, to provide education that stabilizes the state. A new state institute is to take its place.

As a state government, the AfD wants to push for fewer criminal offenses that concern expressions of opinion. It considers the term hate crime too elastic and sees it as a tool for suppressing unwanted criticism.

Some statements are a crime in Germany. The AfD wants fewer such rules. It says the term hate crime is too vague. It says many people no longer dare to give their opinion.

In the platform's view, new and expanded speech offenses endanger freedom of expression and therefore democracy. Instead of passing more laws, there should be a review of which provisions can be dropped. The AfD says it would use every means available to a state government for this.

The AfD wants an amnesty law that cancels fines and warning fees imposed for breaking COVID measures. It regards many of those measures as arbitrary and speaks of an injustice that must be remedied.

During COVID there were many rules. People who broke them often had to pay money. The AfD wants to cancel these penalties. People who already paid should be able to get their money back. The AfD thinks many COVID rules were wrong.

Outstanding penalties and fines would no longer be collected. People who have already paid could get the money back on request. An AfD state government would then seek a similar rule at the federal level. As justification, the platform points to what it sees as failures by the Robert Koch Institute and the Paul Ehrlich Institute that have since come to light.

The AfD rejects surveillance and data retention without specific cause and wants to give citizens back control over their data. At the same time, the government, the administration and the state parliament would have to disclose considerably more.

The AfD wants no surveillance without a reason. The state should not store data without cause. People should decide about their own data. The government and its offices should publish more documents. All public meetings of the state parliament should be shown online.

Contracts, decisions and expert reports paid for with tax money are to be open to the public as a rule. The program argues that the state, not the citizen, has to justify itself. In addition to plenary sessions, all committee meetings and other public sessions of the state parliament are to be streamed live and then kept permanently available as video. The AfD also wants to publish online how every lawmaker voted.

The AfD wants members of the state parliament to enjoy immunity by default again, which could be lifted only on request and with a two-thirds majority. The program justifies this by pointing to court cases that, in its view, are being used politically against AfD lawmakers.

Members of the state parliament should have immunity again. Immunity means they cannot simply be taken to court. Parliament should need two thirds of the votes to remove this protection. The AfD says courts are being used against its lawmakers.

According to the program, there is currently no automatic immunity in Saxony-Anhalt; parliament has to grant it specifically. The AfD wants to return to the earlier rule under which protection applies from the start and ends only on request. Lifting it would require a two-thirds majority to prevent politically motivated abuse. Indemnity, which protects statements made in parliament, would also cover lawmakers' political activity outside the chamber.

Associations would receive state money only if they declare their commitment to the democratic order and to a patriotic stance. The AfD argues that associations that reject Germany are currently being funded as well.

Associations often get money from the state. The AfD wants a new condition for this. Associations should commit to democracy. They should also declare that they stand up for Germany. Without this pledge they should get no money.

The requirement would apply both to associations with ongoing funding and to individual funded projects. What is demanded is a credible commitment that covers not only recognition of the political order but also declared support for the country. According to the program, the current state government asks for no such pledge, so associations that fight patriotism also get money. The AfD calls this a waste of tax money.

The AfD wants to allow postal voting only for voters who credibly show that they cannot vote in person on election day. It regards voting at the polling place as the standard and considers postal voting vulnerable to manipulation.

The AfD wants to limit voting by mail. Only people who really cannot come on election day should vote by mail. They must give an important reason. Everyone else should vote at the polling place. The AfD says cheating is easier with voting by mail.

The program criticizes a state law from late 2020 that lets the state election commissioner run an entire election by mail in a pandemic situation. In the AfD's view, only the polling place guarantees that people can vote unobserved, and therefore secretly and freely. By mail, ballots could go missing or votes could be cast in the name of voters who do not exist. Citizens would therefore no longer be free to choose between a mail ballot and the polling place.

The AfD wants to make popular initiatives, petitions for referendums and referendums at the state level easier by lowering hurdles and quorums and extending deadlines. It also plans a digital platform for online petitions.

People in the state should be able to vote on issues more often. Fewer signatures should be needed for this. There should be more time to collect them. Signing online should also be possible. There should be a website for petitions. A petition is a request to the state parliament.

Signatures could also be collected digitally in the future. According to the program, the people should have the final say not only on local matters such as school closures or construction projects but also on fundamental choices in state politics. On a state participation platform, registered citizens could post, discuss and support petitions; a petition posted there would count as filed with the petitions committee. Once 3,000 eligible voters support it, the petitioner would get the right to speak in the state parliament.

The AfD wants to leave more decisions to municipalities and counties and to withdraw requirements set by the state and federal governments. Counties should be able to levy their own taxes, and the federal government should pay for any new tasks it assigns to municipalities.

The AfD wants municipalities to decide more on their own. The state and federal governments should set fewer rules for them. Counties should get their own taxes. If the federal government hands out new tasks, it should pay for them.

According to the program, state and federal agencies hold villages back and turn municipalities into mere recipients of orders. Rules that make municipalities apply with costly projects in order to get federal money are to be dropped. The AfD wants to withdraw government decrees that interfere with the municipalities' own areas of expertise. Counties are to decide on local tasks themselves and have their own taxes for that purpose. The AfD also wants to improve local administration and involve residents of remote places more closely.

The AfD wants to greatly simplify the state's funding programs so that a single application is enough and money is paid out with little red tape. At the same time, municipalities are to get digital administrative access and online services for residents.

The AfD wants fewer forms for public funding. One single application should be enough. Every municipality should get modern digital administration. People should be able to do many things online and by app. But there should still be a human contact person.

According to the program, good projects often fail because of extensive application forms. Services for residents via web and app are to be expanded while keeping a human contact person available. Fire departments, police and building authorities are to receive modern IT so that processes run faster and without errors.

The AfD wants to strengthen municipalities' planning authority and make decentralized solutions for drinking water and sewage easier. The obligation to connect to and use public systems is to be loosened. No one is to be required to install a fully biological treatment plant.

Towns should be able to plan more on their own. People should be able to use their own wells for drinking water. The duty to connect to the public system should become looser. No one should have to install a certain kind of sewage plant.

The platform names private wells for local drinking water supply as an example of self-reliant solutions. The Anschluss- und Benutzungszwang, meaning the duty to connect to public networks and use them, is to be relaxed. Anyone who voluntarily installs a fully biological treatment plant is to get the permit far more easily. This is also to apply to constructed-wetland treatment systems.

The AfD wants a law restricting municipalities to providing basic local services. Holdings and new companies aimed at profit, investment, or project development would be banned.

The AfD wants to set limits for towns and cities. They should only take care of basic services for local people. These include water, heating, and buses. They should no longer be allowed to start companies to make money.

Only activities and holdings that directly supply residents would remain permitted. The program lists water, wastewater, heating, energy, and public transit. Holdings or new companies meant to earn profits, invest capital, or develop projects would no longer be allowed. This would also apply to wind and solar projects that do not directly supply the local area. The AfD sees serving residents as the sole task of municipal administrations.

The AfD wants to completely dissolve the Landesverwaltungsamt (State Administration Office) and close state-owned companies it considers unnecessary. In the program's view, this mid-level agency creates duplicate structures, and tax money should not fund inefficient bodies.

The AfD wants to get rid of the State Administration Office. This is an agency between the ministries and the towns. Some companies owned by the state should also close. The AfD thinks they are not needed and cost too much.

The office's tasks would be handed to the specialized ministries or to the municipalities. The AfD expects faster decisions and leaner procedures as a result. As examples of state companies to be closed, the program names the state energy agency (LENA) and the investment and marketing company (IMG). They would be dissolved if they do not deliver a clear benefit to the state.

The AfD wants a law banning all state budget funding for political foundations. It regards this funding as indirect party financing and says parties should pay for political education themselves from donations and membership dues.

Some foundations are close to a political party. They get money from the state. The AfD wants a law to stop this. Parties should pay for political education themselves.

The program describes grants to party-affiliated foundations as hidden party financing through the state budget. In the AfD's view, these institutions have outlived their purpose. Political education should be the job of the parties and be funded by donations and membership dues rather than tax money.

The AfD wants at least two old rules repealed for every new one, and applications to count as approved automatically when agencies miss their deadlines. It also calls for mandatory digital procedures and binding standards for a citizen-oriented administration. The stated goal is less bureaucracy and faster processes.

The AfD wants fewer rules. For every new rule, two old ones should go. Offices should decide faster. If they take too long, a request counts as approved. Offices should work more with digital tools.

Before a law is passed, its costs and burdens for residents, municipalities, and businesses would be calculated and published. Under the deemed-approval rule, an application counts as granted once the agency lets its deadline pass. Citizen portals and automation of standard procedures would become mandatory; artificial intelligence would be offered as an option without replacing a human contact. The AfD wants to require quick response times, transparent procedures, and helpful advice from agencies and to check compliance regularly. Funding programs would be reviewed and reduced to a few transparent criteria.