Night Review: The CDU/CSU Struggles, Endures and Wants to Fight

The evening after the Saxony-Anhalt state election, Thorsten Frei took on the role of the sufferer. The CDU/CSU parliamentary leader appeared on ZDF beside Maybrit Illner and faced the thankless task of doing more than explain his party's defeat: he had to endure it in public.

That role, the article says, is more familiar within Catholic culture than outside it, and it is rarely performed on public television. Frei played it across both religious and gender lines, the piece suggests, sitting unusually to the left of Illner despite his political orientation.

The night's political response also included a change in tone from Thomas de Maizière. On Caren Miosga's programme, he sought to move beyond a sour reaction and present himself as ready to fight, while Frei attempted to talk away the AfD's victory.