Reiner Haseloff criticizes federal politics after the AfD election success

The long-time Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff (CDU), criticizes federal politics for being partly to blame for the AfD's success in the state elections. “Basically, there is a suicide of a political nature going on,” said Haseloff in an interview with “Zeit” about the federal governments of the last few years. “The way we do politics must be different,” said Haseloff, who handed over his office to Sven Schulze (CDU) in 2025. “Contact with entire population groups was lost.”

With 15 years in office, he was the longest-serving Prime Minister in Germany when he stepped down. “You have to acknowledge that Germany has changed in many ways to the disadvantage,” stated the 72-year-old. “The real state is the people, the sovereign, and they say: We won’t let you get away with this.”

The former Prime Minister also emphasized that he wanted to stay in Saxony-Anhalt despite the recent election results. In the summer of 2025, he announced that he would consider moving to another federal state if the AfD won the election. He justified this with an “unbearable atmosphere”.

Haseloff is now refraining from this plan. “It's still 500 meters from the post office up front to my grave site, I've already bought it,” he said in the “Zeit” interview, which took place in the “Hotel Luther” in his hometown of Wittenberg. “And I won’t open another gravesite somewhere else.”