Merz is shocked by the AfD's success in Saxony-Anhalt

Live blog about the election in Saxony-Anhalt:

Merz: We are all deeply shocked

Sep 7, 2026, 1:45 p.m. Reading time: 1 min.

Chancellor Merz the day after the election in Saxony-Anhalt with CDU top candidate Sven Schulze in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus in BerlinOmer Messinger

Chancellor on election results: Stick to reforms - “Giving up is not an option for me” +++ SPD is open to a non-partisan Prime Minister +++ all developments in the live blog

“We are all deeply shocked”

The CDU chairman and Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz was horrified by the AfD's electoral success in Saxony-Anhalt. “We are all deeply shocked,” Merz said in a press conference on Monday. “We didn’t expect it to be this way. Of course we have to accept it,” continued Merz. This election result will have an impact. After this election result, one cannot go back to business as usual. Merz spoke of the “heaviest electoral defeat that the CDU has suffered in years, in decades”. “The whole thing will of course have consequences.”

It is part of democracy that majority relationships change. Governments and their policies are always up for vote. “That is the self-evident essence of democracy,” said Merz. "But one thing is not up for vote: these are the rules of our coexistence and the values ​​of our Basic Law." Merz made it clear that these values ​​are “not at the discretion of our state.” "With us, power is given, not seized, and the minority is not the enemy of the majority."

The federal government will ensure that the Basic Law is enforced. "This message also goes out to our friends in Europe and around the world. We know that Germany has a special responsibility due to its history. We will always maintain our political order and our firm roots in Europe," said Merz.

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Israel's ambassador horrified by AfD success in Saxony-Anhalt

Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, was horrified by the AfD's victory in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. "The election in Saxony-Anhalt at the weekend should worry everyone who cares about the future of Jewish life in Germany," Prosor told the Funke newspapers on Monday. "Just 80 years after the Shoah, a party whose leaders called the Berlin Holocaust Memorial a 'monument of shame' achieved record growth."

Anti-Semitism is a poison that should not be tolerated, emphasized Prosor. "Germany needs a firewall against anti-Semitism on all fronts - not just words of condemnation, but concrete actions."

The European Rabbinical Conference viewed the election results in Saxony-Anhalt as a “wake-up call”. This also applies to the work of the media, explained General Secretary Gady Gronich: "Anyone who makes the AfD the focus of political reporting for months and increases every provocation must ask themselves whether they have not contributed to its strength." The centrist parties also have to ask themselves “why they no longer reach so many people”.

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The proportion of women in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt falls to 21.7 percent

According to the preliminary results, 18 women and 65 men were elected to the new state parliament in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. This puts the proportion of women at 21.7 percent. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt would have the lowest proportion of female representatives of all German parliaments. In the current state parliament, the proportion of women was 27.8 percent, slightly higher than in Saxony (27.5 percent) and Bavaria (24.6 percent). According to statisticians, Hamburg's state parliament (48.8 percent) has the highest percentage of women represented in a national comparison.

According to the election results, the Greens, the Left and the SPD achieved gender parity in the parliamentary groups of the new state parliament with four out of eight mandates each. This is followed by the BSW with 40 percent (two out of five mandates), the CDU with 13.3 percent (two out of 15) and the AfD with 5.1 percent women (two out of 39 mandates).

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Churches and associations are concerned about social peace after the AfD's success

Churches, social associations and migrant organizations are concerned about the rights of minorities and those who think differently following the AfD's electoral success. In a joint statement published on Monday, the leaders of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the Catholic German Bishops' Conference and the Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK) called on the party to "fully respect the state constitution and the Basic Law and to protect the dignity of all people regardless of origin, religion, way of life, performance or position."

A statement from the bishops and church presidents in Saxony-Anhalt said: "Our concern is for social peace and the coexistence of people in our state."

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AfD top candidate Siegmund has no ambitions in the federal government for the time being

Saxony-Anhalt's AfD election winner Ulrich Siegmund says he initially has no nationwide ambitions in his party. "When I start a topic, I finish it. And I clearly stand behind our federal leadership here. Alice Weidel must become Chancellor," he said in Berlin in response to a question from the German Press Agency as to whether he could imagine a long-term role in federal politics or see himself as a pure state politician. He added: "But I mean, I'm 35 years old, who knows what will happen in 10, 20, 30 years - anything is possible."

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AfD at the polls was significantly stronger than among postal voters

In the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD performed significantly better in ballot box voting than in postal voting. The preliminary results show that, mathematically, the party would have won an absolute majority of seats in the state parliament without postal voters.

Among voters who cast their votes at the polling stations, the party classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony-Anhalt received 51.2 percent of the vote. In the postal vote, only 24.3 percent of the valid votes went to the AfD. It is on a par with the CDU, which 24.3 percent of postal voters also chose. At the polling stations, however, only 14.5 percent voted for Prime Minister Sven Schulze's party.

Before the election and in recent years, AfD politicians have repeatedly, mostly without concrete evidence, expressed doubts about the security and legality of postal voting and called on their supporters to only vote on site. According to election researchers, the party's postal voting results are therefore worse than those from the ballot box. This time, 27.4 percent of voters in Saxony-Anhalt voted by post. In 2021 it was 29.1 percent.

Counting of postal votes on September 6th in Halle an der Saale. . dpa

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SPD is open to a non-partisan prime minister

The SPD is open to electing a non-partisan candidate as Prime Minister in Saxony-Anhalt if necessary. He doesn't think this is the first choice, said top candidate Armin Willingmann in Berlin. "But if it could lead to the dissolution of a blockade, it should not be rejected a priori."

The BSW brought up the idea of ​​a non-partisan Prime Minister for Saxony-Anhalt. According to the proposal, this Prime Minister should govern with changing majorities, including the AfD. Wellingmann said that the possible agreement on a non-partisan prime minister was “probably currently being discussed”.

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Despite the election defeat, Kubicki still believes in the continued existence of the FDP

Despite the FDP's heavy defeat in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, its chairman Wolfgang Kubicki continues to believe in the future of his party. "I'm not worried that the Free Democrats will now finally disappear from the political scene, at least under my leadership - I don't think so," said Kubicki in Berlin, where the FDP presidium was discussing the election results.

With a result of 2.6 percent, the FDP was thrown out of another state parliament and also from the last state government in which it was still a member. Kubicki said he was fundamentally worried about the Liberals' public appearance and the question of whether they could still create a bond. Perhaps the FDP needs to “present its differentiated arguments to people a little more pointedly.”

The time for him as the new FDP leader was simply too short, said Kubicki. He has only been in office for three months, with a summer break in between. "It has obviously still not been possible to combine the positive values ​​of Wolfgang Kubicki with the FDP." “The huts were full” at all FDP events. There was also a relatively high level of approval for performances on squares. “But it doesn’t have any impact on the FDP brand at the moment.”

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Banaszak calls for a change of course in Berlin

The Greens attribute the AfD's election victory to the federal government led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) - and are now calling for a change of course. “Continue like this” is now “the wrong possible reaction,” says Green Party co-leader Felix Banaszak at a press conference in Berlin. He expects the Chancellor and the federal government to live up to their responsibilities. Merz should have expected the result and prepared more than “bloodless platitudes and phrases”.

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Bas: Don't make reforms against the people

After the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, SPD leader Bärbel Bas warns against implementing social reforms against the will of the population. “We shouldn’t make social reforms against the people,” says Bas. Reforms are necessary to maintain social security systems and stimulate the economy. At the same time, there is a need for secure jobs, good wages and falling prices. The election result is a clear signal to the federal government. Demands for longer working hours and fewer sick days fueled uncertainty and mistrust. This rhetoric is harmful, criticizes Bas. Instead, people need reliability in terms of pensions, health and care.

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Von Angern and Schwerdtner sharply criticize “choose tactically”.

Saxony-Anhalt's top left-wing candidate Eva von Angern has blamed campaigns by the "Tactically Vote" initiative and the non-governmental organization "Campact" for her party's losses in the state elections. The “loaned votes to other democratic parties” were “bitter,” said von Angern on Monday in Berlin. Both organizations had called for the SPD or Greens to be given the second vote in order to ensure their entry into the state parliament. The left-wing federal chairwoman Ines Schwerdtner criticized that “Elect Tactically” does not pursue a long-term approach: “This is not a strategy against a strong right, especially not among the workers.”

The fact that the Left's first vote result in Saxony-Anhalt, at 12 percent, was significantly better than the second vote result (8.6 percent) indicates such a borrowed vote effect. In the first votes, however, the Left probably benefited from borrowed votes from SPD and Green supporters: the party won a total of three direct mandates in Magdeburg and Halle. In these constituencies, “Taktisch Voting” called for people to support left-wing candidates with their first vote.

According to Infratest dimap, the Left Party in Saxony-Anhalt lost a net total of 5,000 second votes to the Greens and no second votes to the SPD. The Left Party lost more second votes to two other parties: 15,000 former Left voters voted for the BSW. On balance, the Left lost 12,000 votes to the AfD.

Ines Schwerdtner, federal chairwoman of the Left, and Eva von Angern, top left-wing candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, come to the Federal Press Conference House for a press conference on the results of the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. dpa

When asked about the voter migration in favor of these parties, Schwerdtner and von Angern in Berlin appeared at a loss. Von Angern said she was “facing a certain phenomenon.” It is difficult for them to understand that former left-wing voters would "apparently ignore" the AfD's corruption scandals and the "disunity" of the BSW.

The three direct mandates won could shift the direction of the left-wing state parliamentary group in Saxony-Anhalt: While top candidate Eva von Angern stands for a decidedly pragmatic course, at least two of the three direct mandates went to left-wing politicians who are assigned to the left wing of the party. This also became clear in the election campaign: Both Jannik Balint (Halle) and Mustafa Groener (Magdeburg) campaigned for a "salary cap" for MPs, which von Angern is skeptical about. Groener is also said to have good contacts with the Left Party working group “Palestine Solidarity”. Unlike at the federal level and in the Berlin regional association, this current has so far been little influential in the Saxony-Anhalt Left Party.

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Merz doesn't want to give up

The Chancellor has shown himself determined to continue. “Giving up is not an option for me,” said Friedrich Merz when asked. And when asked about running for office in the next federal election, he said he was thinking about a lot of things at the moment, but not about this. He added:

“I know we all have to get better together.”

He is looking for ways to achieve this. This is “not just a question of a rational understanding of politics, but it is also a question of care, empathy, emotions.” Merz admitted that he was not one of those people who carried emotions around every day. But the population also wants other answers. "Above all, she wants to know why we're doing all this."

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Schulze announces consequences

The failed CDU