AfD politician Ulrich Siegmund announces his candidacy for Prime Minister

The AfD politician Ulrich Siegmund has announced that he will stand for election as Prime Minister in the December session of the Magdeburg state parliament. “We are still in constructive discussions with another parliamentary group and with individual other members of this state parliament from other parliamentary groups,” said the AfD co-parliamentary group leader. “That’s why I would like to announce here and today that, as things stand, I will be running as candidate for Prime Minister here in Saxony-Anhalt in the December session of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt.”

In the election on September 6th, the AfD, with Siegmund as the top candidate, was the strongest force with 43.8 percent, ahead of the CDU with 17.2 percent. The AfD is currently holding talks with the BSW about forming a government. The BSW rules out a coalition. The discussions are about content that an AfD-led minority government would have to implement. There are no results yet.

Before the state elections, Siegmund had repeatedly ruled out governing without his own absolute majority - he only wanted to be elected Prime Minister if his party could govern alone, he emphasized several times.

He did not comment on the exact construction of a future government. But his goal was always to bring a stable government into being. "I wouldn't go into the election of the Prime Minister if I didn't have stability as a certainty beforehand. As a result, it won't be a classic minority government. If everything goes as we currently plan, there will be a format of stability where I can't give any further details at the moment." However, it is a format above a minority government that is currently being explored.

How Siegmund comes into office remains unclear. The AfD has 39 members in parliament. The CDU, Left, Greens and SPD together also have 39 seats, the BSW is represented by 5 representatives. For a majority in parliament, 42 votes are needed. However, the BSW has announced that it will abstain from the Prime Minister election. In the third round of voting, a majority of votes cast is sufficient in Saxony-Anhalt. Abstentions are not counted.

Parallel to the talks between the AfD and BSW, there was also a first exchange between the SPD, the Greens, the Left and the BSW in Magdeburg on Tuesday. The question is, for example, whether there could be a non-partisan prime minister. The four parties want to continue the talks after the inaugural session of the state parliament, which will take place on October 6th.

The four factions do not have a majority in the Magdeburg parliament; they only exist together with the CDU. However, the Christian Democrats had previously rejected the SPD's invitation and see themselves in the opposition.