Saxony-Anhalt election: AfD leader Ulrich Siegmund open to coalition government

The AfD is claiming the right to form a government in Saxony-Anhalt after what its lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund called a historic election result. Shortly after the first projections emerged, Siegmund said he was prepared to reach out to potential partners if they wanted to pursue a fundamental political shift with the AfD.

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I want to extend a hand to all possible forces if they want to bring about a fundamental political shift with us.

That position marked a change from his pre-election stance. Siegmund had previously said he would seek to become minister-president only if the AfD won an absolute majority. Speaking on ARD, he said he would now extend his hand to “all possible forces” willing to bring about that change.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel also claimed a governing mandate on ZDF. She described the result as historic and said the party had received “a very clear mandate to govern.” Whether that would happen through tolerance by another party or through a coalition, she said, remained to be seen. Weidel also predicted that the CDU would “never again” win an election. Thuringia’s AfD leader Björn Höcke praised the state organization’s teamwork and described Siegmund as a charismatic, warm and people-friendly candidate.

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This is a historic result and a very clear mandate to govern.

CDU lead candidate and Minister-President Sven Schulze congratulated the AfD on its victory and acknowledged that the result represented a defeat for his party. He also highlighted turnout, which he said would probably reach between 75% and 80%, an unusually high level for a state election. CDU Minister of State Nina Warken called the result a turning point for the party, saying it struck at the Christian Democrats’ founding commitment to humanity and cooperation. She said the CDU had to accept the result but would not simply accept it as final.

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It is also a defeat for us.

Several CDU politicians ruled out a debate over Friedrich Merz’s role as party leader and chancellor. SPD General Secretary Tim Klüssendorf said his party could contribute to forming a different majority and warned that building a government would be very difficult. The supplied report ends as he calls on the CDU to cooperate with the Left.

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This is a result that hits us, especially as Christian Democrats, because we were founded to stand for humanity and cooperation.