A few minutes after the first forecast, Reiner Haseloff comes out.

"I am very satisfied, I am overjoyed," are the Prime Minister's first words as he passes by.

At this moment Haseloff gives the impression of being less relaxed.

The CDU politician seems rather moved and touched by the results displayed.

The bar of the CDU at 6 p.m. has grown to 35, even 36 percent.

At this moment, cheers erupt from the CDU box on the exhibition grounds, where the election evening is taking place due to the pandemic.

Reinhard Bingener

Political correspondent for Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bremen based in Hanover.

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    Marlene Grunert

    Editor in politics.

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      There is only silence from the boxes of the other parties as the respective numbers are displayed.

      The CDU is the clear, unambiguous election winner this Sunday.

      Before the election day, Haseloff's party would have been satisfied with almost 30 percent.

      Now the result is way above that.

      Haseloff's strategy of relying on middle-class politics and ruling out any cooperation with the AfD also worked out well with the voters.

      Haseloff evaluates the result as a “clear rebellion” of the citizens in the country against the AfD.

      The course, which "is also associated with me as a person", has been confirmed, says Haseloff.

      CDU state politicians prefer an alliance without the Greens

      The projections also indicate that the CDU will also have a very comfortable starting position for the upcoming explorations and coalition negotiations.

      The speculations about a cooperation with the AfD, which some CDU politicians in Saxony-Anhalt have always given new food, should have been dealt with for the time being.

      Instead, the Union can choose an alliance in the middle.

      Corresponding figures are making the rounds in the exhibition center even before the first forecast is made.

      Leading CDU politicians - of course Corona-compliant - kiss each other with joy on the exhibition grounds.

      The party has fully relied on the official bonus and has put up expensive large-format posters with the Prime Minister all over the country: Reiner Haseloff looks in support of the state, Reiner Haseloff smiles gently, Reiner Haseloff hugs his wife.

      The state elections in the neighboring states of Thuringia, Brandenburg and Saxony in 2019 already showed that this official bonus from the head of government in the east can decide elections.

      Haseloff wants to sound out "in peace"

      With strong parties on the political fringes, many citizens gather behind their prime minister and his party. This is one of the reasons why the 67-year-old Haseloff decided to run again as the top candidate after ten years in office. With the election result on Sunday behind him, Haseloff has more authority than ever, also in relation to his own CDU regional association. When choosing the coalition partners, he will be able to confidently express his opinion. There are "several options," says Haseloff. "They have to be explored in peace."

      The SPD will again be a key interlocutor for him. For the Social Democrats, the central question before election night was: single-digit or double-digit? In the last state elections in 2016, the SPD experienced a sharp crash with 10.6 percent. Unlike its comrades in Saxony, however, it has not yet plunged to a single-digit value. Saxony's SPD never provided the prime minister either. In Magdeburg, the social democrat Reinhard Höppner ruled from 1994 to 2002 and relied on the Left Party, which at that time was still called the PDS.