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🇮🇹 Italy /Elections & Politics

Saxony-Anhalt election: Merz refuses to give up as he admits defeat, saying ‘We are shocked’

From ANSA · () Italian

Translated from Italian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the CDU’s result in Saxony-Anhalt its worst defeat in decades and said the party was shaken to its foundations.
  • The AfD received more than 44% in the state, but its co-leader Alice Weidel said the party lacked the numbers to form a regional government alone and would seek talks with other parties.
  • Merz ruled out giving up and called for fundamental reforms and a firm anchor in the European Union.

Friedrich Merz says he will not give up, even after the CDU suffered what he called its worst defeat in decades in Saxony-Anhalt. “The CDU is shaken to its foundations, we are shocked,” the German chancellor said after the AfD won more than 44% in the state.

The CDU is shaken to its foundations, we are shocked.

· Friedrich MerzMerz described the CDU’s result in Saxony-Anhalt as its worst defeat in decades.

The result has opened a difficult period for the CDU and its coalition partner, the SPD. CDU officials and SPD leaders held crisis meetings in Berlin, while Sven Schulze, the CDU’s outgoing state candidate, said the party no longer had a mandate to govern. “The mandate to govern now belongs to the AfD,” Schulze said.

The AfD does not have enough seats to govern alone. Its co-leader Alice Weidel called Merz “a burden for Germany,” while AfD figures began reaching out to other parties. Siegmund said the party was not building walls but was extending a hand for talks about forming the regional government. The party’s effort follows a result that has put it at the center of the state’s political calculations.

The mandate to govern now belongs to the AfD.

· Sven SchulzeThe outgoing CDU state candidate said his party no longer had a mandate to govern.

Merz presented the defeat as a warning that the CDU must change. He said Germany needed substantial reforms and a firm “anchoring in the EU,” linking the issue to the opportunities available to future generations. “I have many thoughts, but not about the 2029 elections. Giving up is not an option for me,” he said, adding that everyone in the party needed to improve.

Giving up is not an option for me.

· Friedrich MerzMerz rejected suggestions that the election result could lead him to resign.

The result also drew reactions beyond Germany. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called it a worrying signal but stressed that it was a regional vote and that Italy was different. Spain’s Pedro Sánchez described the advance of the far right as evidence that his government was more necessary than ever. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán celebrated the AfD’s success, calling it only the beginning, while Italian politician Roberto Vannacci praised what he described as a popular anti-elite wave.

Merz is a burden for Germany.

· Alice WeidelThe AfD co-leader criticized the German chancellor after the party’s strong state election result.
About this summary

Originally published by ANSA in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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