AfD Achieves Historic Victory in Saxony Anhalt Election
10 sources across 6 countries
Who reported this
- Der Spiegel
- Sueddeutsche Zeitung
- Deutsche Welle
- Frankfurter Allgemeine
- ANSA
- Corriere della Sera
- elDiarioAR
- CNN Brasil
- France 24
- El Pais
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
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The far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won a historic victory in the Saxony Anhalt state election, securing nearly 44 percent of the vote. While the party fell just short of an absolute majority, its lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, is positioned as the likely next leader of the state parliament. Siegmund has outlined a 100 day plan that includes the deportation of individuals without legal residency, the creation of separate school classes for refugee children, and the abolition of the public broadcasting fee. He also proposes a review of the state government's response to the COVID 19 pandemic and the implementation of compulsory work programs for asylum seekers.
The result has caused significant turmoil among established parties. The CDU suffered a major defeat, with its vote share dropping to 17.2 percent. In the aftermath, Minister President Sven Schulze was elected as the new CDU parliamentary group chairman. Internal conflict has emerged within the CDU, as Sepp Mueller has campaigned for the party leadership while insisting that the CDU must not collaborate with either the extreme right or the extreme left. Meanwhile, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has indicated it may support an AfD candidate for the position of state parliament president, although the BSW has ruled out entering a formal coalition with the AfD.
Reactions to the outcome have been sharp. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel described the victory as shocking and a fracture in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the event a deep caesura and stated that the government is determined to protect the parliamentary order, leading some to speculate about a potential legal ban on the AfD. In Berlin, thousands of people demonstrated against the AfD victory. The result is also expected to influence upcoming elections in Mecklenburg Vorpommern, where the SPD and AfD are currently competing for dominance.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- These outlets emphasized the shock of the result, the danger to democracy, and the social resentment driving the AfD vote.
- Centre
- These outlets focused on the specific policy proposals of the AfD and the logistical challenges of forming a government.
- Centre-right
- These outlets highlighted the internal power struggles within the CDU and the potential for legal measures to ban the AfD.
Sources
- Centre ANSA: Merkel: 'My heart breaks, the success of the AfD is shocking'
- Centre CNN Brasil: Understand what the AfD will do in the first 100 days if it comes to power
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, who is the AfD guru and author of the "Magdeburg Manifesto"
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: What will the AfD do now, in Saxony-Anhalt? "Ready to govern, not to change our nature": the three possible paths
- Centre-right Corriere della Sera: Chancellor Merz on vote for Afd in Saxony-Anhalt: "We are deeply shocked"
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: AfD: How parents can talk to children about the election victory in Sachsen-Anhalt
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: Political scientist explains reasons for the party's electoral success
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: Sachsen-Anhalt: Why did he vote AfD? Because of the feeling, he says
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: Sachsen-Anhalt: Who are the BSW representatives who matter now?
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: Sachsen-Anhalt: Thousands demonstrate in Berlin against the AfD
- Centre Deutsche Welle: BSW and AfD: a political love-hate relationship in Germany
- Centre-left El Pais: The possible arrival of AfD to power in Saxony Anhalt puts intelligence services in Germany on alert
- Centre France 24: Germany: school curricula in the sights of the AfD
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: After Saxony-Anhalt election: Is the CDU moving toward an AfD ban proceeding?
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: Reactions from Czechia: The beer, the Elbe and the AfD
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: CDU in Sachsen-Anhalt: Hard fights over the few posts that remain
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: Consequences for Election in MV: Must the CDU now fear the five percent hurdle in the northeast?
- Centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung: Saxony Anhalt: If the AfD governs, will it disillusion itself? That is a bleak bet
- Centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung: Election in Saxony Anhalt: CDU group elects Minister President Schulze as chairman in contested vote
- Centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung: Saxony Anhalt: The man with the bold words for a battered CDU
- Centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung: Saxony Anhalt: What the Greens do better
- Centre-left elDiarioAR: Why the far right harvested a historic result in Saxony-Anhalt and what it means for Germany
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.