Germany: elections in Saxony-Anhalt, test ballot before the legislative elections
An AfD supporter waves a German national flag before the last meeting of the far-right party for regional in the Land of Saxony-Anhalt Magdeburg, June 4, 2021. REUTERS - ANNEGRET HILSE
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6 mins
Despite the modest size of the Land of Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany, national leaders are closely following the regional poll on Sunday.
The respective results of the two largest formations, the Christian Democrats and the extreme right, are the focus of attention.
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This is the main stake of the ballot in Saxony-Anhalt: the score that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) will achieve.
The far-right party wins its best results in the east of the country, where the movement is led by particularly radical officials.
In 2016, the party obtained more than 24% in the same land, the second best score since its creation eight years ago.
A further push by the AfD passing the CDU would be a disaster for the Christian Democratic party three and a half months before the general elections, after two failures in March in other regions.
For the president of the movement,
Armin Laschet,
who has yet to convince that he is the right candidate for the chancellery of the conservative camp, the stakes are high despite the low electoral weight of this region of 2.2 million inhabitants.
Temptation to reconcile
If the anti-migrant party wins on Sunday, it would not be able to form a coalition, as all the other parties refuse any alliance with it.
But the temptation of a rapprochement is still very present among some conservatives in this land led since 2002 by a “Kenya coalition” (CDU-SPD-Greens).
An option categorically excluded by the national bodies of the CDU for which it is essential that this safeguard holds, while the AfD should in September be represented again in the Bundestag, as explained by Jens Althoff, director of the Paris office. of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
The big problem in Saxony-Anhalt is that there are still some conservatives who would be open and who would even prefer to work with the extreme right.
And that, of course, is something the Greens could never accept.
It would be something that could be the end of the conservative candidate Armin Laschet, who nevertheless made it very clear that there is a very clear line set by him: it is no form of comparison with the far right.
Jens Althoff (Heinrich Böll Foundation)
Anastasia becchio
A test for the Greens
If this Sunday's election promises to be above all a duel between the CDU and the AfD, it is also a test for the Greens.
The results they (the Greens) obtain in eastern Germany are much weaker than, for example, in regions which have in the meantime also become ecological strongholds [...] It is therefore also an issue for the party at the federal level to see what results it will achieve.
Annette lensing
Anastasia becchio
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