Germany’s Christian Democrats won the by-elections in East Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, which strengthened their leader Armin Laschet and his intention to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor in September.
The CDU was able to deal with a major crisis from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which sought to benefit from it Public dissatisfaction on Covid-19 closure.
The opinion of the German public broadcaster ARD, which is generally seen as an accurate predictor of final results, set the Christian Democratic Union at 36%, surpassing six points in the 2016 general election. AfD followed by 22.7%, down 1.6 percent on its results. 2016.
The prospects, according to a recent poll, show that the current coalition of the CDU, Social Democrats and Greens, led by Reiner Haseloff of the CDU, will have enough seats in parliament to maintain power. But the CDU could choose to form an alliance with the SPD and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP).
“I have been a prime minister for ten years, and people know me, they know me. . . which I stand for, “Haseloff, a 67-year-old academic, told ARD.” I think this confidence really helped. “
He also commended voters for “establishing a right-wing civilization” in support of the central CDU and not the AfD.
Another pre-election poll had suggested that the AfD could beat the CDU in second place. Even if this happens, it would not be right for them to form a government as no other party would want to form an alliance with them.
The dramatic results of the AfD in 2016, when it won almost a quarter of the vote, showed public outrage against Angela Merkel’s immigration policy and the growing number of more than one million people in Germany, many of them from the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan.
It was a frustrating night for the Social Democrats, a young ally in Merkel’s main coalition government, who saw their turnout drop by two points to 8.3% – one of the worst consequences for Germany after the war. The Greens rose to 6.6%, up 1.4 points in 2016.
“We have increased our share of the vote, but not as much as we expected,” said Annalena Baerbock, who wants to be the Greens’ chancellor.
The FDP-traded FDP gained 6.5% of the vote, rising 1.6 points in 2016. Die Linke left strong, from the Communist Party that once ruled East Germany, fell 10.8%, down from 16.3 percent five years ago.
Saxony-Anhalt is a small state with a population of only 1.8m. The reunification of Germany brought them economic hardship, and the population has dropped by 24% since 1990 when young people move to the West in search of better jobs.
The country is facing another economic crisis in the coming decades as Germany tries to close its main mines – the largest employer in Saxony-Anhalt – as part of a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The result was the victory of Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous country, who will represent the CDU-backed chancellor and his Bavarian party CSU in the September elections, which will mark the end. 16-year-old Angela Merkel as chancellor.
The CDU fell to the polls earlier this year, frustrated by the public’s delay in the immunization campaign, and the bribery scandal surrounding a Christian Democrat minister.
There were also doubts about Laschet’s success in the Bundestag elections, which were run by Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, who had made himself vice-chancellor of the CDU / CSU, sparking a heated debate. Laschet hopes the dramatic results in Saxony-Anhalt will dispel doubts.
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