Angela Merkel's conservatives achieved their best result in 19 years in the state

German CDU wins Saxony-Anhalt election with 37.1% of the votes

La CDU alemana gana los comicios de Sajonia-Anhalt con un 37,1% de los votos

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday with 37.1% of the vote, more than 15 percentage points ahead of the far right, which came second.

According to the latest provisional results from the Regional Election Commission on Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives won their best result in 19 years in the eastern German state, improving by 7.3 percentage points on the previous election and far ahead of the polls.

In second place was Alternative for Germany (AfD), which won 20.8 percent of the vote despite losing 3.8 percentage points from the 2016 election. The polls had placed the far-right almost in a technical tie with the conservatives.

In third place, after dropping 5.3 percentage points from the previous regional elections, was The Left, which won 11% of the vote.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) came in fourth with 8.4% of the vote, 2.2 percentage points below its previous record and its worst-ever showing in Saxony-Anhalt.

The fifth-placed Freedom Party (FDP) returned to the regional parliament (exceeding the legal minimum of 5 %) with 6.4 % of the vote, 1.5 points above its previous record.

The sixth party in the regional legislature is the Greens, which obtained 5.9 percent of the vote, 0.7 percentage points more than in the 2016 elections.

In terms of seats, the CDU won 40 seats in the Magdeburg parliament, compared to 23 for the AfD, 12 for the Left, nine for the SPD, seven for the FDP and six for the Greens. The majority is achieved with 49.

This means that the CDU and its regional leader, Rainer Hasselof, have different options to form a majority coalition.

They could re-edit the current executive (2016-2021) with the Social Democrats and Greens, or the one of the first legislature (2011-2016), only with the SPD. Tripartite governments with the SPD and the FPD, and with the Greens and the FDP would also be possible.

The preliminary round of contacts to form a government will begin shortly.

The elections in Saxony-Anhalt will be the last time before the general elections on September 26, the most uncertain in Germany in more than a decade due to the departure of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the erosion of the conservative bloc due to the management of the pandemic.