Overview
- National polls show the AfD at about 29 percent and widening its lead over other parties, while regional surveys put it above 30 percent in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern and above 40 percent in Sachsen‑Anhalt.
- The Greens held a second Ostkongress on Rügen and published a 'Sassnitzer Erklärung' as part of an intensive local outreach push to avoid falling below the 5 percent threshold in eastern state elections.
- Police and state security services warn of very large demonstrations around the AfD federal congress in Erfurt and an internal LKA report estimates up to 2,500 potentially violent agitators among protesters.
- Inside the AfD, Thüringen leader Björn Höcke and allies have filed motions to narrow the party's Unvereinbarkeitsliste, exposing a fight over who the party will accept and how extremism is defined.
- The party's momentum is producing concrete shifts: a CDU MP in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern has announced plans to join the AfD and the AfD installed new regional leadership in Rheinland‑Pfalz, increasing pressure on mainstream parties and complicating post‑election coalitions.