AfD's Siegmund leaves door open to more ballots in Saxony-Anhalt premier vote

CDU keeps the option of backing AfD motions

The CDU, which voters sent into opposition, may vote for AfD motions in the Saxony-Anhalt Landtag in individual cases. Parliamentary group leader Sven Schulze told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung that the party will decide each time, using a single test: whether a measure benefits the state. He added that the AfD should not assume the CDU will act as its majority provider. Within the party and the parliamentary group, the CDU has agreed to focus on its own topics, and Schulze said it would back what it considers right regardless of who else votes for it.

“We will decide case by case. For us there is only one criterion: does it benefit the state?”

Schulze was elected leader of the CDU parliamentary group directly after the state election, in which the AfD missed an absolute majority but finished well ahead of the CDU. He also remains acting minister-president, a double role that has drawn criticism. The 47-year-old said he had made clear from the start that the arrangement would be temporary, and that he will not carry both functions into the Christmas break.

Siegmund no longer rules out further ballots

AfD top candidate Ulrich Siegmund no longer rules out standing in a second or third round of the minister-president election, after earlier saying he would run only once. Speaking to the Volksstimme, he said the situation may need reassessing and that whether he or someone else runs again remains open. What matters to him, he said, is that he does not lose his credibility.

“Possibly we have to reassess the situation. Whether I run a second or a third time, or someone else does, we will see.”

The election is planned for December. Siegmund needs three votes from other groups to win on the first ballot. The CDU faction has decided to leave the chamber during the vote and the BSW intends to abstain, so it is unclear how he would reach a majority. He said his single-run pledge was made before the CDU took that decision, and he criticised the move, saying he had not thought it possible that the CDU would use procedural tricks or simply walk away.

How the vote would proceed

If the first ballot fails, a second must take place within seven days. If that also fails, the Landtag has a further 14 days to vote on whether the term should end early. If it does not decide that, a third ballot follows immediately, in which a simple majority of the votes cast is enough. Siegmund warned that deputies from other groups could vote for him by abstaining and then leave him unable to pass his priorities, which could endanger the AfD's nationwide success. He said he could make things easy for himself by counting on getting through a third ballot, but that this carries a high risk.

Alice Weidel, the AfD federal chair, said earlier that Siegmund will become minister-president and that it is completely irrelevant to her whether that happens in the first, second or third ballot.

“The Ulrich Siegmund will become minister-president.”