AfD wins state election in Saxony-Anhalt with over 40 percent - CDU halves

Saxony-Anhalt has voted - and the counting of the votes is in many respects a nail-biter.

The AfD is well over 40 percent and may be facing a sole government. The CDU has halved compared to the last state election, the Greens and SPD remain stable, the FDP, which previously co-governed, is eliminated. And the BSW? Must be shaking.

The AfD stood out particularly clearly in the age segment of 35-44 year olds and 45-59 year olds - in both groups it received 53 percent of all votes. The CDU only has 9 percent of 35 to 44 year olds, while the Greens are the second strongest party in this group with 12 percent.

What is striking is that the older the group of voters, the higher the support for the CDU. Among particularly young voters (18-24 years old), the party is only at the 5 percent mark. The AfD is once again strong in this segment (42 percent), but also the Left Party (18 percent). This fits with the trend of the last federal election, where first-time voters voted particularly frequently on the political fringes. The Greens also score particularly well in the younger age groups, with only 5 percent of those over 70 years old.

How the different professional groups chose

If you look at the voting decisions among different professional groups, the election winner AfD is particularly strong among workers. There the party received 61 percent of the vote and is far ahead of all other parties. Of all things, the once proud workers' party SPD is miles behind here and ends up behind the CDU (10 percent), the Left Party (7 percent) and BSW (6 percent) and on a par with the Greens (5 percent).

Among the self-employed, one in two voted for the AfD, the CDU came to 19 percent of this group and the Greens to 14 percent. Here the FDP, which was left behind in the election results, was still in closest contact with the 5 percent hurdle.

When it comes to employees, the AfD is also far ahead of all other parties at 46 percent. Among the other parties, no other clear voter preference emerged - the CDU got 13 percent, the Greens 12 percent, the Left Party 10 percent.

AfD less popular among women

A look at voting behavior by gender: As in previous elections, the AfD is more popular among men (50 percent) than among women (39 percent). All parties except the AfD and FDP perform better among women than among men. The SPD, Greens and Left are a maximum of two percentage points stronger than men, while the CDU is four percentage points stronger.