Alternative for Germany won 43.8% of the vote and 39 of 83 seats in Saxony-Anhalt’s September 6 state election, according to the provisional official result. The party finished first but fell short of the 42 seats needed for a majority. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, won 5.3% and five seats.
BSW lead candidate Thomas Schulze said his party would maintain its plan to abstain if the state parliament reaches a third ballot for minister-president. A simple majority is sufficient in that round. Tagesschau reported that the five BSW abstentions would not by themselves elect AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund; at least one other lawmaker would also need to abstain or vote for him.
That position is not an announcement of a governing coalition with the AfD. Schulze said BSW would not participate in the political ‘firewall’ around the AfD and would speak with all parties, but the reported commitment concerns a possible abstention during the premier vote.
Siegmund said he would seek a stable majority through talks with parties or individual lawmakers. The CDU and the other parties represented in the new parliament had ruled out an AfD coalition, leaving the formation of a government unresolved.
