According to the returning officer, more than half of those eligible to vote have already voted, including Prime Minister Schulze and AfD leading candidate Siegmund. The head of the economists warns against an AfD government.
More than half of those eligible to vote have already voted. This is reported by state returning officer Christa Dieckmann. At 2 p.m. voter turnout was already at 54.4 percent. In the state elections five years ago it was 27.1 percent at the same time, and in 2016 it was 35.4 percent.
According to the information, the database is a sample of feedback from representative polling districts. The 2,130 polling stations have been open since eight o'clock.
What makes the election in small Saxony-Anhalt so important is obvious: after the votes have been counted, a right-wing extremist party could come to power in a federal state for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.
A coalition of CDU, SPD and FDP currently governs Magdeburg. However, according to all polls, the coalition will lose its majority. The AfD is likely to be by far the strongest force.
In the last survey before the election, the AfD with top candidate Ulrich Siegmund got 41 percent. Prime Minister Sven Schulze's CDU was at 23 percent in the survey published on Thursday by the Elections Research Group on behalf of ZDF. The Left followed in third place with 11.5 percent, the SPD had 8.5 percent, and the Greens had six percent. The BSW was below the five percent hurdle at four percent and the FDP at three percent.
If the AfD does not achieve an absolute majority, it would have to rely on alliance partners to come to government. But: None of the other parties want to form a coalition with her. Siegmund, in turn, recently confirmed that he would only stand for election as head of government if his party won an absolute majority and could govern alone.
If the AfD misses this goal, a CDU-led minority government could come into play. However, this could rely on votes from the left – similar to Saxony and Thuringia. The problem: In a party conference resolution, the CDU rejects a coalition and “similar forms of cooperation” with the Left as well as with the AfD.
The fact that something is at stake can also be seen in the voter turnout in Saxony-Anhalt: According to the state returning officer, it was already at 34.72 percent at 12 p.m. For comparison: in the state election five years ago, voter turnout at lunchtime was only 22.4 percent. The polling stations will be open until 6 p.m., then counting will take place.
Prime Minister Sven Schulze has voted. The incumbent Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt has now also cast his ballot. Sven Schulze came to the polling station in Magdeburg hand in hand with his wife Kati.
AfD leading candidate Siegmund has voted. 18 degrees and sunshine - the weather in Tangermünde provided the AfD's top candidate with the right backdrop for his appearance with his Simson and his wife Julia on Sunday morning. The couple drives together to vote.
Economist Monika Schnitzer warns of the consequences of the AfD taking over government in Saxony-Anhalt. Schnitzer is chairwoman of the Council of Experts for the Assessment of Overall Economic Development - the “Economists” for short - and a professor at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.
“In view of the election program, it is to be expected that if the AfD takes over government, the state would become significantly less attractive as a location for skilled workers and companies,” Schnitzer told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. In other words: Urgently needed skilled workers would be deterred if the party classified as right-wing extremist in Saxony-Anhalt came to power. There was a risk of serious economic consequences.
