The conservatives in the territory of the former GDR were on the rise

According to the first evaluations published in the German press, the state organization of the CDU won a sensational victory in the last vote before the federal parliamentary (Bundestag) election. The party and its candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet, can start the campaign for the Bundestag election in September, strengthened in this way.

The loser of the elections was Alternative Germany (AfD), which was previously considered to have the best chance, which performed worse than expected on the basis of opinion polls and the results achieved in the previous Landtag elections in 2016.

but it is still the number two political force in Saxony-Anhalt, located in the eastern part of the country, on the territory of the former GDR.

In addition to the CDU and the AfD, four parties entered the Magdeburg Landtag: the Left (Die Linke), the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens (Die Grüne) and, as a new player, the liberal FDP. Their support is orders of magnitude lower than that of the CDU and the AfD. The Left and the SPD weakened significantly, the Greens strengthened less than expected. All of this can be partly attributed to the fact that the concern over the chance of the AfD's breakthrough drove tens of thousands of voters from other parties to the CDU, who considered it the only chance to prevent the AfD's victory.

The CDU gathered 37.1 percent of the votes, an increase of 7.3 percentage points compared to 29.8 percent in 2016.

The AfD, to the right of the center-right People's Party, won 20.8 percent, 3.5 percentage points less than the 24.3 percent five years earlier.

Baloldal finished in third place with 11 percent, 5.3 percentage points lower than 2016's 16.3 percent.

The SPD fell below the 10 percent mark for the first time, winning 8.4 percent of the vote, 2.2 percentage points less than the 10.6 percent in 2016.

The Greens gained strength, winning 5.9 percent of the vote, 0.7 percentage points more than the 5.2 percent five years earlier.

This time, the German Free Democrats crossed the 5 percent threshold, thus gaining representation in the provincial assembly again after ten years.

They obtained 6.4 percent of the votes, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to 4.9 percent in 2016.

The election participation rate was 57.4 percent, down from 61.1 percent five years earlier.

The CDU has governed Saxony-Anhalt without interruption since 2002. In the cycle that ended with Sunday's election, he was in a coalition with the SPD and the Greens. In the new term, he can form a majority government with the SPD alone.

MTI / hirado.hu

Cover photo illustration: Armin Laschet (CDU), Photo: Alliance / DPA