Election in Saxony-Anhalt: CDU suffers historic debacle, Merz speaks of worst defeat in decades

Election in Saxony-AnhaltAfter the CDU election debacle: Merz speaks of “the worst defeat in decades”

September 7, 2026, 1:43 p.m.|

The whole thing “will of course have consequences,” says the Chancellor in Berlin.

All developments in the live blog

In addition to our own research, we use material from the news agencies dpa, Reuters, epd, KNA and Bloomberg for our live blog. You can also find all the news, analyzes and background information on the election in Saxony-Anhalt on our topic page.

Important updates

Siegmund wants to run for prime minister with a stable majority

What government options are available

BSW top candidate: BSW would abstain from the third round of voting

Preliminary results: AfD misses an absolute majority – BSW enters the state parliament

Musk congratulates the AfD on its election triumph - Siegmund speaks of cooperation

After the CDU election debacle: Merz speaks of “the worst defeat in decades”

Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) described the election in Saxony-Anhalt as a shock for the party and himself. “Yesterday something changed not only in Saxony-Anhalt, but throughout Germany,” said Merz in Berlin. He describes his party’s result on Sunday as “the worst defeat in decades”. The whole thing “will of course have consequences”. This result was not expected. “That does something to us, including me personally,” added Merz. Therefore, the party cannot simply move on to the agenda.

At the same time, Merz confirmed that he would stick to his reform course. These reforms are necessary. He wants to try to address people more and better and explain the reforms better. Many people were worried, even more so since the state election.

“Our institutions are defensive and stable,” said Merz. The Basic Law protects this and the Basic Law is enforced. Germany will always maintain its firm anchoring in Europe.

Before Merz's statement, the federal party met for consultations. Also there in Berlin's Konrad-Adenauer-Haus: top candidate Sven Schulze, who fell from 37.1 to 17.2 percent with the CDU on Sunday. Merz is blamed for the defeat.

Friedrich Merz. Photo: Ralf Hirschberger/AFP

This is how Saxony-Anhalt voted – provisional result

After counting all 2,661 electoral districts, the state election management announced the following preliminary results of the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt:

According to the information, voter turnout was 77.8 percent. In the last election in 2021 it was 60.3 percent.

CDU top candidate Schulze announces consequences

After his party's defeat, Prime Minister Sven Schulze (CDU) announced consequences. “I ran there as the top candidate and will of course draw the appropriate conclusions from that,” said Schulze after meetings of his party’s top committees in Berlin. He announced that he would submit a proposal for the further procedure to the CDU state executive board in the evening.

Schulze spoke of a serious defeat. "We as the CDU no longer have a government mandate, we are the opposition. The government mandate now lies with the AfD."

Dobrindt is pushing for more reforms in the federal government after the AfD election victory

According to Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, the Union must respond to the AfD's victory in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt with a consistent course of reform within the federal government. “It now depends on the Union,” said the CSU politician at the Gillamoos folk festival in Abensberg, Lower Bavaria. The country should not be left to those who “have learned nothing from the past but promise the blue sky for the future”.

Dobrindt called the outcome of the election in Saxony-Anhalt a “political earthquake” because “opponents and critics of the system” were in the majority compared to the political center. The choice was decided by people's “fears, worries and frustrations”. And this must now be responded to with reforms. “Our country needs changes,” emphasized Dobrindt. “People want decisions that reward performance.” Refusal to perform must have consequences again.

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) is on stage at the Gillamoos political morning pint. Peter Kneffel/dpa

Siegmund wants to run for prime minister with a stable majority

After his party's election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, AfD top candidate Ulrich Siegmund wants to seek a majority among the other factions and individual members of the new state parliament. His “declared goal” is “that we get a stable majority that we can rely on in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt as quickly as possible,” said Siegmund in Berlin. This should happen “under the proviso” that core positions, such as migration and internal security, are “implemented 100 percent”. The AfD won the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday by a large margin, but missed out on an absolute majority.

“Of course I will stand as a candidate for Prime Minister in Saxony-Anhalt if it becomes apparent that I have secured a stable majority,” he says. "That is not at all foreseeable today. That's why our aim now is to organize precisely this stable majority in the next few days and weeks."

Siegmund expressly announced that he wanted to hold talks with the individual factions and with individual MPs. Corresponding discussions are already “initiated today”.

This approach is not a contradiction to his announcements before the election that he only wants to govern alone, said Siegmund when asked. “The plan was clearly a sole government.” In the upcoming talks we have to look at: “Who are these people, can we do it in such a way that we remain politically true to our values.” It could also be the case that there will be voices at the BSW who want a change. But he doesn't want to play games, so you can't rely on that later.

Verdi calls for a clear stance against AfD cooperation

After the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the chairman of the Verdi union, Frank Werneke, warned the democratic parties against working with the AfD. “No democrat is allowed to help the fascists gain government power,” said Werneke, according to a statement. The AfD election victory is “a bitter and alarming result for all democratic forces in Germany”.

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) in particular has a responsibility to oppose cooperation with the AfD, said Werneke. The BSW must not become the “stirrup holder” of the AfD. Possible supporters from the CDU parliamentary group are also not allowed to take part in such cooperation. Werneke blamed the federal government's policies for the poor election result for the CDU/CSU and SPD. He therefore called for a change of course in economic and social policy.

Weidel: Aim for 40 percent in the federal election

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has increased her party's ambitions for the next federal election. “My stated goal is to significantly expand the gap in the shortest possible time and to grow it to at least 40 percent for the next federal election,” said Weidel. "The CDU/CSU will never be able to win another federal election again. That's a fact." People wanted a change in politics.

AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla said that his party in Saxony-Anhalt would also like to talk to the Christian Democrats. “We are ready to talk to the CDU too.” However, they don't want a situation like in Thuringia, where a prime minister is dependent on the support of several parties.

Appearance at the federal press conference: Ulrich Siegmund (left) together with Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel. Photo: Clemens Bilan/EPA

Schnieder: “Whoever governs is responsible for ensuring that it works in the end”

The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate and CDU leader Gordon Schnieder has called on the federal government to make clear decisions and argue less. “Whoever governs is responsible for ensuring that things work in the end. That problems are solved and decisions are made,” said Schnieder in Mainz. “Germany cannot afford a long-term political dispute.”

After the election in Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer believes that a self-critical pause in politics is urgently needed. He hopes “that we won’t go back to business as usual in a week or two, but that we’ll finally start to look at what motivates people and why they vote like that,” said the CDU politician in Dresden. “And it really annoys me over the past few years that that didn’t happen.”

What government options are available

The AfD won the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt by a wide margin. Ulrich Siegmund is therefore not yet Prime Minister. His party is three seats short of an absolute majority. Mathematically, she could govern with the BSW - politically, such an alliance is not yet foreseeable. A government of all other parties or a minority model would also be possible.

The election of the Prime Minister could be particularly important: after two failed rounds of voting, the majority of votes cast may finally be sufficient. But even then, Siegmund's election would be far from certain. AfD and the four parties CDU, SPD, Greens and Left each have 39 seats. The BSW plays a key role with five mandates, but individual MPs can also play a decisive role.

Read more about this in the text by Tim Frehler:

Churches concerned about election results in Saxony-Anhalt

The results of the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt are of “great concern” to the churches. "This state election has profoundly changed the political situation in Saxony-Anhalt. The country is divided. Our concern is for social peace and the coexistence of people in our state," said the bishops of the Protestant and Catholic Churches, Friedrich Kramer and Gerhard Feige, as well as the church president of the Evangelical Regional Church, Karsten Georg Wolkenhauer. The concern also applies to the consequences announced by the AfD that the election results will have for culture and education, community and voluntary work, diakonia, Caritas and churches.

“Even after the election, we churches remain firmly on the side of those who are keeping a watchful eye on the policies of the AfD.”

Friedrich Kramer, regional bishop of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany

His Catholic counterpart Feige appealed to the AfD to fully respect the constitution of Saxony-Anhalt and the Basic Law and to protect the dignity of all people. “Anyone who wants to take on government responsibility takes responsibility for all the people in our country.”

Chancellor Warken against personnel discussion

Chancellor Nina Warken insists on a stable federal government after the elections in Saxony-Anhalt. “It would be the wrong thing if we asked personnel questions,” said the CDU politician on ARD when asked about Chancellor Friedrich Merz. "The government has been elected for four years, the Bundestag has been elected for four years. We now also need a certain stability here." Merz is also the one who initiates and advances things that need to be changed.

Warken demands that the black-red coalition implement the reforms. “We have to go faster” so that people feel that something is changing. The economy must “finally get back on track” and the social security systems must be stabilized.

International press reviews on the election in Saxony-Anhalt

The strong performance of the party, which is classified as right-wing extremist in the state, is causing a great response beyond Germany. Many major international media outlets are making the election results their top story.

Italy, La Stampa: "81 years after Hitler's downfall, which left the country in ruins and with the indelible guilt of the Holocaust, a party that more or less explicitly invokes that Germany wins the state election in Saxony-Anhalt."

Switzerland, Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "The CDU's worst nightmare has come true: the voters have halved the party. It achieved the worst result in its history in the federal state and, on top of that, lost the election with the AfD to a party to the right of it. If the former CSU leader Franz Josef Strauss were still alive, who once said that there should be no democratically legitimate party besides the Union at this point, he would be horrified."

Great Britain, The Independent: "(...) This victory is the biggest success in the AfD's 13-year history and comes at a time of widespread dissatisfaction with an unpopular federal government that has so far failed to convince voters that it can revive the country's ailing economy. Furthermore, the victory is a symbolic setback for (Chancellor Friedrich) Merz, whose center-right party has ruled Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years."

USA, Wall Street Journal: "Everything that once stood is crumbling, and many of the tools that once served to contain the far right have proven useless or even counterproductive. The AfD's overwhelming victory in the small eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt will force the democratic camp to rethink its strategies of the past few years and reevaluate some truths that were previously considered irrefutable."

International political celebrities also spoke up. You can read more about this in the article by the SZ correspondents:

Anna Schimpp

Auschwitz survivor Eva Runde: This election result scares us

Auschwitz survivor Eva Runde is horrified by the AfD victory in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. “This election result scares us,” said the President of the International Auschwitz Committee after the organization announced in Munich. She further asked:

"Which path is Germany on? The path it has already taken before?"

Eva Rund (President of the International Auschwitz Committee)

“As survivors of the Holocaust, we would never have thought the fact that a right-wing extremist party would once again be the strongest faction in a German state parliament,” said Runde. The Auschwitz survivor announced that she would continue to fight for democracy and memory. “We owe this to our murdered relatives, and this is our obligation to the young people in Germany.”

In Berlin, the committee's executive vice-president, Christoph Heubner, added: “Not n