Thomas Schulze, top candidate and state chairman of BSW Saxony-Anhalt, at the election party on Sunday evening dpa
“We will not take part in a firewall coalition” +++ 39 seats each: stalemate between AfD and declared AfD opponents +++ AfD gets 43.8 percent, CDU falls to 17.2 +++ all developments in the live blog
Top candidate Schulze: BSW would abstain from the third round of voting
The BSW top candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, Thomas Schulze, announced that his party's new state parliamentary group would abstain from electing a prime minister in a third round of voting. “We will not take part in a firewall coalition,” Schulze announced on Deutschlandfunk. In the third round of voting, a simple majority in the Magdeburg state parliament is enough to elect a new prime minister - then the AfD could get its top candidate Ulrich Siegmund through. But we have to wait to see whether Siegmund will even stand for election as prime minister, said Schulze. He expects the AfD to approach the other parties as the election winner. At the same time, Schulze confirmed that the BSW wanted to propose a non-partisan candidate for the office of Prime Minister. A person from Saxony-Anhalt will be named “promptly,” he says.
Preliminary official final result – stalemate between AfD and parties that do not want to work with the AfD
The AfD won the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt well ahead of the ruling CDU, but missed an absolute majority. As the state election authorities announced on Monday night in Halle an der Saale, they received 43.8 percent. The CDU achieved 17.2 percent, its worst result in a state election in Saxony-Anhalt. The SPD became the third strongest force with 9.3 percent, the Greens and the Left got 8.9 and 8.6 percent respectively. With 5.3 percent, the BSW managed to overcome the five percent hurdle. With 2.6 percent, the FDP missed entry into the state parliament.
For an absolute majority, 42 members are needed in the state parliament. The parties that exclude cooperation with the AfD (CDU, SPD, Greens, Left) have a total of 39 mandates in the new state parliament, just like the AfD. There are also five BSW representatives.
In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD could be the first time since the end of the Second World War that a party classified as right-wing extremist could come to power in a federal state - but it would need supporters to do so. The BSW was open to this, party founder Sahra Wagenknecht said that there would now hopefully be majorities in the state parliament “for a change of course in energy policy, an end to the Russia sanctions, better education and a fundamental reform of public broadcasting”. The BSW wants to use this “to improve people’s lives”.
SPD politicians are calling for changes to the reform package
Leading SPD politicians are calling for corrections to the federal government's pension package. “I believe we have to find options in this federal government if we want to secure the social security systems,” says the parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Wiese, on ARD. People who have worked hard for years need “a bridge to retirement,” says Wiese, referring to the current pension-free pension after 45 years of contributions. But he doesn't want to talk about having to “untie” the pension package. Alexander Schweitzer, deputy SPD chairman and chairman of the SPD state parliamentary group in Rhineland-Palatinate, is also calling for changes to the pension package. He also speaks out on Deutschlandfunk against changes to the SPD party leadership. When asked whether Lars Klingbeil and Bärbel Bas were still the right party leaders, he said: “They are.”
Chancellor Warken against personnel debates – and for rapid reforms
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.
Amthor: Now is the moment of truth for the AfD
The Minister of State in the Chancellery, Philipp Amthor, sees the AfD as responsible for forming a government in the new state parliament in Magdeburg. “This is the moment of truth for the AfD,” says the CDU politician on Deutschlandfunk. “Now we will have to see whether this party is able to form a government.” He emphasizes that the CDU will not work with this party. The goal is to work to ensure that the AfD does not take responsibility. But now a party that has received more than 40 percent must say what it plans to do with Saxony-Anhalt. With a view to the federal government and SPD demands for a correction to the reform course, Amthor says: “To question the reforms now would be the completely wrong answer to the election results.”
Hungary's elected Prime Minister Orbán is happy about the AfD victory
The elected Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has expressed his joy at the AfD's election victory in Saxony-Anhalt. "A huge (election) night for Germany and Europe!" wrote the right-wing populist on the platform
Orbán maintains connections with right-wing conservatives and right-wing populists around the world, including the AfD. Its chairwoman, Alice Weidel, visited him in Budapest several times during his term in office.
Banaszak sees all democratic parties as responsible
After the AfD's election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, Green Party leader Felix Banaszak sees the democratic political center as responsible. “All democratic parties must take seriously the crisis of trust, the deep crisis of trust that has gripped our democracy and its parties and its institutions,” said Banaszak on Deutschlandfunk. Confidence in the state's ability to solve problems is at an all-time low. He further said:
“No party can say: the others have to take care of it.”
Green Party leader Felix Banaszak
We have to take seriously what has triggered the fears of the people in Saxony-Anhalt. "And that's why I think it would be the completely wrong conclusion, and I would like to say this to the federal government, if the Union takes this election result with it, we simply have to push these reforms through the German Bundestag even faster."
The strong performance of the AfD and the defeat for the CDU in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt are also attracting attention abroad. A look at some international press reviews from Monday morning:
The US media “Wall Street Journal” writes:
"German voters are in a bind. (…) The CDU has become too weak, the AfD is not popular enough to win the election on its own, and the CDU refuses to form a coalition with the political climber. (…) The left-right coalition is paralyzing Merz, whose personal instincts in economic and foreign policy actually point towards the reforms that Germany needs. Voters who had hoped for change when they elected him in 2025 are disappointed; his approval ratings are “The election in Saxony-Anhalt is a warning signal that the voters could soon take the risk of a sole government through the AfD.”
The London Independent says:
"The party's election victory marks a historic shift in German politics after years of other parties working together to keep the far right out of power. (...) This victory is the biggest success in the AfD's 13-year history and comes at a time of widespread discontent with an unpopular federal government that has so far failed to convince voters that it can revive the country's flagging economy.
“The victory is also a symbolic setback for (Chancellor Friedrich) Merz, whose center-right party has ruled Saxony-Anhalt for 24 years.”
The Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” writes:
"Germany wrote a new page in its history yesterday, and it is a worrying page. In a small state, Saxony-Anhalt, where three percent of the German population lives, an overwhelming majority of voters betrayed the promise of "never again." And for the first time since the end of National Socialism, a far-right party that uses slogans and draws on the inhumane ideas of that era, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), is running to govern a region.”
And the “Corriere della Sera”:
"Just as you can't push back a wave and you can't put a broken vessel back together without the cracks remaining visible, so Germany after the election in Saxony-Anhalt can no longer go back to what it was before. The AfD's triumph has historic proportions, even if it doesn't come into government. Even before that, however, the extreme right forced all of Europe to turn its gaze in their direction - until Europe seems to be hypnotized by it. From a small Lutheran state that is important for German history "The AfD is now moving from the periphery to the center and can work towards a project that could not necessarily achieve political dominance in Germany, but at least a majority."
The Spanish newspaper “La Vanguardia” comments:
"The far-right AfD, which is even more extreme than other European right-wing extremists, has achieved an undeniable victory in the election in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and could soon be in power. The rapid rise of a party whose leaders flirted with the Nazi past and did not hide their sympathies for Vladimir Putin's Russia is worrying at the federal level, as the same AfD is leading the polls for the federal elections in the face of the collapse of the governing parties.
“Yesterday’s result casts a new shadow over the future of a frightened Europe just before the French presidential election, in which the far-right Marine Le Pen is also the favorite.”
The “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” says:
"The CDU's worst nightmare has come true: the voters have halved the party. It achieved the worst result in its history in the 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. (...) This election was a vote of no confidence in the entire party, not just the CDU State association in Saxony-Anhalt. The surveys show it clearly. 86 percent of the voters who left were disappointed with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He promised too much and delivered too little."
And the Polish news magazine “Polityka” writes:
"The AfD's triumph is a political nightmare for Friedrich Merz, who is already one of the least popular German chancellors. In addition, an increasingly heated discussion is raging within his party about the strategy for dealing with the AfD. (...) This means that Germany is expecting a festival of political declarations without cost coverage next month, a festival of attacks on Merz as well as debates about early federal elections and the possible break of the federal government. If you take into account the weakening economy, that is in front of our eyes “The crumbling model of German industry in the world and growing unemployment, then it is not impossible that we are all on the threshold of a gigantic German crisis that will undoubtedly spread across the entire continent.”
Homeland Union in Saxony calls for an end to the coalition with the SPD
In response to the CDU's defeat in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the Homeland Union in the party's Saxon state association has called for a return to its conservative roots. What is needed is a maximum of “pure CDU” without ongoing compromises with left-wing parties, the group explained. She called on the Saxon CDU and government leader Michael Kretschmer to end the coalition with the SPD and the consultation mechanism in the state parliament and to form an “honest minority government”.
“Yesterday's election results in Saxony-Anhalt continue a long-standing development, even if the AfD narrowly missed the majority of seats in the state parliament: voters are highly dissatisfied with the CDU's policies,” emphasized the Homeland Union. She accused federal politicians of having sacrificed essential parts of a convincing CDU election program on the altar of the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party. The Homeland Union had repeatedly advocated a pragmatic approach to the AfD and questioned the firewall.
The CDU's top candidate from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania doesn't want a debate about Merz
Daniel Peters, the CDU's top candidate for the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has spoken out against a personnel debate in his party. The election result should not be taken lightly, he said after his CDU's defeat in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, and the mood was accordingly. But: “If you can’t think of anything better than cooling your hat on Friedrich Merz…”
