Merz warns of a 'far-right government' in Saxony-Anhalt after the strong advance of the AfD

The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, spoke forcefully this Monday before the meeting of the federal executive committee of the CDU, according to information obtained by Bild. Merz expressed dismay at the AfD's election result in Saxony-Anhalt and warned of an imminent "far-right government" and a "far-right minister-president" in the eastern German state.

According to the provisional results, the AfD approached the absolute majority with 43.8% of the votes, while the CDU saw its result regarding 2021 reduced by half, to 17.2%. CDU regional chairman and outgoing minister-president Sven Schulze conceded defeat shortly after the polls closed.

Bild collects Merz's verbatim words before the executive body: "We have a solid Constitution, we have all the instruments to defend it against an extreme right-wing state government, but we are suffering a profound upheaval in our party system."

The chancellor went further: "This shakes our party to its foundations. We cannot simply go back to normal, neither I nor the federal government."

Internal self-criticism

Merz was self-critical before the committee: "We have not managed to connect emotionally with people." According to Bild, the CDU leader noted that there was a lack of "emotional support from the population" and added: "We cannot ignore it."

The chancellor described the result as a "dramatic defeat" and a "transcendental turning point for the party."

Call for unity

Merz called for internal cohesion: "We will only be successful if we talk openly about the problems within the management." At the same time, he warned that "public statements directed against the party" harm the CDU.

Regarding the AfD, Merz was blunt: its objective is the "total destruction of the CDU", so there can be "no cooperation" with the formation. The CDU, he stressed, stands "on the foundations of Adenauer and Kohl."

The abstentionists, mobilized

Sven Schulze, head of the CDU list and outgoing minister-president, summarized before the committee a campaign that he described as "extremely tough" and was "deeply disappointed": the polls predicted better results for his party.

According to Schulze, the AfD used "different mechanisms" in its campaign, with "unprecedented" brutality in the attacks, to which the electorate "did not react" against. The training also managed to mobilize a large number of former abstentionists. "This hurts a lot, but we have to accept it," he concluded.

After yesterday's result, the political crisis worsens around Merz and his coalition government with the SPD. The result reopens the debate in Berlin on the future of the "cordon sanitaire" against the AfD and on the stability of the CDU-SPD federal coalition