Friedrich Merz admits shock after AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt

The chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, admitted this Monday that the electoral victory of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt is a shock for him and for his party, the Christian Democrats CDU, which collapsed at the polls, but also for Germany in general. At a press conference in Berlin together with the still regional president of the land, the Christian Democrat Sven Schulze, the chancellor said that this victory "will have consequences" and that "it is not possible to simply return to the agenda without further ado."

Merz then defended his determination to remain governed and to “continue with the reforms, without interruption,” although he conceded that there has been a lack of empathy with the population's concerns, which is why he promised to “explain them better.” He was thus attributing a good part of the triumph of the extreme right in the eastern land to not having known how to convey the need for structural reforms ("we have to do more than justify the reforms mathematically, economically; we have to explain them better") and also to the fact that he himself as a person has been an issue in the electoral campaign.

The chancellor affirmed this Monday that the government coalition of conservatives and social democrats is solid, that he was elected for a four-year term starting in 2025 and that he will not abandon it no matter how much the far-right presses: "Giving up is not an option." The German media have recently speculated about a possible boredom of the CDU with Merz, due to his unpopularity, which would be leading the Christian Democratic party to consider his replacement.

At his side, the defeated Christian Democrat in Saxony-Anhalt, Sven Schulze, recognized that the AfD has a “mandate to govern”, even though it is missing three seats for an absolute majority in the chamber, and that the CDU will not cooperate with this party and will go into opposition.

This same Monday morning his opponent from the AfD and winner of the elections, Ulrich Siegmund, assured that "there is understanding towards our positions in some sectors of the conservatives", that they will speak with them, and that he trusts that some CDU deputies in the Land Parliament will individually support a future AfD government.

"We know that Germany, due to its history [Nazism], has a particular responsibility; we will always preserve our political order and our strong ties with Europe," declared the chancellor, who assured that he will defend the Constitution (in Germany it is called the Basic Law) in any situation that arises if the AfD finally governs Saxony-Anhalt.

The triumph of the extreme right in this sparsely populated eastern land, with 2.1 million inhabitants, has dealt a blow not only to the Merz Government and his party in particular, but also modifies the political paradigm of Germany sustained for decades since the end of the Second World War. The AfD believes that this will propel them towards the government of Germany in the next general elections, scheduled in principle for 2029.

On September 20 there are two other relevant regional elections: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin (the capital has the rank of land). In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, another eastern state, Alternative for Germany leads the polls with around 36%, although it seems that the social democratic president, Manuela Schwesig, whose party would fall to 29%, will be able to weave an alternative coalition. In Berlin, the panorama is more divided, with the leftist Die Linke, the CDU and the AfD very evenly matched. In any case, everything indicates that the CDU, which currently leads the Berlin government coalition, would lose its position.