Election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt: CDU members may say only nice things about the Greens and AfD

Saxony-Anhalt’s election campaign has reached the stage where CDU members are allowed to say something good about the Greens and the AfD, but little else comes easily. With every party fighting for the final votes, political differences are often harder to see than the common effort to stop the AfD.

The AfD leads all polls by a wide margin. For the first time, it could provide the state’s minister-president, even though the domestic intelligence agency classifies the party’s state branch as definitively far-right. At its campaign events, however, the atmosphere resembles a public festival. Lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund reportedly struggles to keep up with autograph requests after hours of selfie sessions.

The other parties are caught in a defensive campaign against the AfD. That leaves them with little energy to make their own differences clear. Across the state, the political climate is divided, with parties and supporters trading insults.

To test whether anything positive could still be found in the competition, campaign events for all six relevant parties were visited in Magdeburg, Osterwieck, Halle, Klötze, Schierke, Dessau and Haldensleben. Campaigners, from experienced speakers to political newcomers, were asked on camera what they appreciated about their rivals. The answers produced poisoned compliments, unexpected areas of agreement and repeated failures to find common ground. The CDU campaign in Magdeburg and Halle appeared relatively informal, with most advertised events involving businesses and associations. Its lead candidate, Sven Schulze, seemed to avoid open confrontations in marketplaces and halls. At a door-to-door campaign event in Magdeburg, members of the Young Union who had come from across Germany were joined by several media outlets, highlighting the rarity of seeing him on the campaign trail.