Overview

• An Infratest dimap survey published in early September shows the AfD at 39% in Saxony-Anhalt, well ahead of the CDU at 27% ahead of the state election.
• Minister-President Reiner Haseloff calls the situation existential, declaring “Es geht ums Ganze. Wir oder die,” and presses for the centre to organize to block an AfD minister-president.
• He categorically rejects cooperation with the AfD, which the state’s Verfassungsschutz classifies as “gesichert rechtsextrem.”
• Haseloff will not seek re-election, and the CDU plans to run Economic Minister Sven Schulze as its lead candidate.
• Arguing Germany has lost economic edge, he demands a “new Grundjustierung,” warning that “Made in Germany” no longer guarantees world-leading quality.