In Saxony, elections for the Minister-President are scheduled to hold on the 1st of September 2019 but, election officials are currently being threatened. These threats come after the exclusion of two-thirds of the candidates from the far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD) from the list of candidates eligible for the upcoming election.

Founded in 2013, the AfD is the main opposition party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s political party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). The party received the highest percentage of the state’s vote in the 2017 federal elections and in the 2019 EU parliamentary elections.

The Telegraph explores the AfD’s trajectory, stating: “The party is currently in joint first place in opinion polls in the state and is projected to win as many as 30 seats in the regional parliament.” However, this would not be the case after the party made an error in the submission of its list of candidates.

“Under Germany’s proportional representation system, each party must submit a list of candidates who will be allotted seats according to the party’s share of the vote. German election laws specify that all candidates must be chosen at a single party conference, but for some reason, the AfD chose to draw up two lists for Saxony at separate events.” Only the first list, with 18 candidates, was accepted by the election authorities.

Expectedly, the party’s regional chairman in Saxony, Jörg Urban, condemned the decision, calling it a “conspiracy by established parties to weaken the strongest challenger in the Saxon elections.”

Following their actions, German election officials have reportedly received threats and hate messages, which has prompted them to employ the services of security personnel to guard the committee’s meetings.