CDU mayor Bernd Prange donates €10,000 to AfD ahead of Saxony-Anhalt election

Open letter and financial support

CDU local politician Bernd Prange announced that he transferred a total of 10,000 euros to Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt ahead of the state parliament election scheduled for 6 September 2026. Prange, who has served as the honorary mayor of the municipality of Altmärkische Höhe since 2010 and sat on the Stendal district council since 2004, confirmed that the financial contribution was made in two separate 5,000-euro instalments in recent weeks. In an open letter, the 59-year-old official declared that he plans to cast his own ballot for the AfD and urged other conservative voters in the region to do the same. Prange stated that the move was a deliberate step taken out of deep concern for the country rather than a spontaneous decision. He argued that values such as economic reason, performance, security, order, national sovereignty, and cultural identity are no longer adequately represented within the CDU.

Campaign against party leadership

Prange explicitly called for an outcome that allows the AfD to form a single-party government in Magdeburg. He maintained that an absolute majority for the AfD would shock the CDU into abandoning its firewall policy, which prohibits formal cooperation between the two political forces. In his letter, Prange accused the CDU leadership of moving toward the left and tolerating alliances with left-wing parties. He demanded the removal of Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, describing him as the symbol of a party leadership that has abandoned its conservative foundation. Prange also praised day-to-day cooperation with the AfD faction in the Stendal district assembly, arguing that local pragmatism had averted harm from leftist policy initiatives. When addressing his political future in interviews, Prange confirmed that he aims to provoke his formal removal from the party.

I want them to throw me out.

Party response and expulsion proceedings

The response from CDU officials across state and federal levels was swift, with party figures initiating formal disciplinary steps. Saxony-Anhalt CDU General Secretary Mario Karschunke declared that the public donation and endorsement constitute a grave violation of party statutes. Karschunke announced that the case will be submitted to the Stendal district executive committee, headed by state parliamentarian Chris Schulenburg, which serves as the competent body for initiating expulsion proceedings.

Nobody is forced to remain a member of our party if they no longer share its fundamental political convictions.

Dennis Radtke, the head of the CDU social committees and employee wing, echoed the demand for immediate accountability. Radtke insisted that active party members campaigning for the AfD inflict maximal harm on the Union and must face exclusion if they do not resign voluntarily.

Anyone who calls for the election of the AfD as a CDU member should consistently leave the CDU.

Context of the state election

The confrontation unfolds roughly two weeks before voters in Saxony-Anhalt head to the polls on 6 September 2026, with the CDU trailing behind the AfD in regional opinion polls. Incumbent Saxony-Anhalt Minister-President Sven Schulze, who leads the CDU state campaign, had previously dismissed suggestions that party members would defect or assist the AfD in securing power. Schulze repeatedly rejected any political cooperation with the AfD and ruled out accepting their votes to secure the premiership. The dispute carries additional local resonance because the Stendal district is also the home constituency of AfD state lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund. Following the publication of the letter, the federal AfD organisation publicly thanked Prange on the social platform X, remarking that the donation and endorsement exposed internal divisions inside the Christian Democratic Union.