Sachsen-Anhalt parliament set to have Germany’s lowest share of women

Sachsen-Anhalt’s new state parliament will have Germany’s lowest share of female lawmakers after the AfD’s strong election result. Preliminary figures show that 18 women and 65 men were elected, leaving women with 21.7% of the seats.

The previous parliament had a female share of 27.8%. By comparison, women held 27.5% of seats in Saxony and 24.6% in Bavaria. Hamburg had the highest share among German state parliaments, at 48.8%.

The Greens, Left and SPD each reached gender parity in their eight-seat delegations, with four women apiece. Women account for 40% of the BSW’s delegation and 13.3% of the CDU’s. The AfD has the lowest share, with only two women among its 39 lawmakers, or 5.1%.

The AfD won 43.8% of the vote, more than doubling its 2021 result. The governing CDU fell to 17.2%, while the BSW entered the parliament with 5.3%. The SPD won 9.3%, the Greens 8.9% and the Left 8.6%.

The new balance of power will also affect the Federal Convention, which elects Germany’s head of state on January 30. The body includes all 630 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of representatives chosen by the state parliaments. Calculations cited by the article show that CDU, CSU and SPD can retain a clear majority there.