The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a historic defeat in the regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, being overtaken by the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party that achieved between 44% and 44.5% of the votes. The CDU's regional leader, Sven Schulze, publicly acknowledged the defeat, classifying it as "a dark day" for the party and congratulating AfD on the victory, at a time when voter turnout rose to around 80%, 20 percentage points higher than five years ago.
The CDU came in second place with only 18.5% of the votes, representing a drop of 18.6 percentage points compared to the last elections in 2021. Schulze criticized the impact of the federal government's policies, led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also from the CDU, on the results, admitting that this is "a defeat" and that the campaign was "extremely difficult and intense". The party was expected to elect approximately 16 representatives in the regional parliament.
The spokesperson for the CDU's federal parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei, stressed that this is "a decisive moment" for Germany, noting that there has never been a situation where a party classified as far-right by the intelligence services had won such a strong position. Frei called for "respect" for the result and defended the reforms promoted by the federal executive, warning against drawing "hasty conclusions".
If the results are confirmed, AfD will obtain 39 seats in the regional parliament, still needing 42 for an absolute majority. The SPD acknowledged the "dramatic nature" of the results through its secretary-general, Tim Kluessendorf, who advocated for forming a "democratic majority" against AfD, although he admitted it will be "very, very difficult" to form a government. The BSW achieved 5% of the votes, the minimum threshold to enter parliament, while the FDP is expected to be excluded with only 2% to 3%.
