Overview
- Söder issued the warning on Sunday evening on ARD's Caren Miosga program, saying a second government breakdown after the Ampel's end would be a huge blow to democracy and would probably lead to early elections.
- He urged the governing coalition to overcome disputes, deliver concrete results and hold together to avoid the instability he says would benefit the AfD.
- Söder reaffirmed his support for Chancellor Friedrich Merz and framed coalition cohesion as essential to preserving centrist governance.
- The immediate spark for his comments was the secret‑ballot election of Tobias Rausch as Saxony‑Anhalt Landtag president, where Rausch received more votes than the AfD and its ally together hold, a gap that suggests possible CDU cross‑voting though the source of the extra votes remains unverified.
- Söder called on CDU deputies who backed the AfD candidate to leave the Union, argued votes for the AfD show no future in his party, and placed the episode in the wider context of eastern‑state AfD gains and post‑Ampel political volatility.