Overview
- Saxony-Anhalt’s parliament elected CDU politician Sven Schulze, 46, to succeed Reiner Haseloff as state premier in a midterm handover.
- Schulze won in the first round of voting, sparing the CDU-led coalition with the SPD and FDP the risk of a run-off setback.
- A poll published Tuesday put the AfD at 39% in the state, ahead of the CDU at 26%, with the Left at 11%, the SPD at 8% and BSW at 6%.
- Mainstream parties continue to enforce a firewall against governing with the AfD, leaving coalition math tight and raising the stakes of September’s vote.
- The AfD, strongest in eastern Germany on anti-migration and economic grievances, condemned the move as a pre-election ploy, with lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund calling it a “new level of lies.”