On Sunday, citizens in two eastern German states elected new state parliaments. The most important news summarized.
AfD top candidate Björn Höcke on election day in Thuringia.
The most important points at a glance
- In Thuringia, the AfD has become the strongest force with 32.8 percent of the votes after counting all constituencies. This is the first time that the right-wing party has become the largest faction in a state parliament. However, all other parties rule out a coalition with the AfD.
- In Saxony, the CDU leads with 31.9 percent, closely followed by the AfD with 30.6 percent of the votes. The SPD receives 7.3 percent, and the Greens just manage to enter the state parliament again with 5.1 percent.
- The Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht achieves 15.8 percent in Thuringia and 11.8 percent in Saxony. A government participation of the party of the former Left politician is considered more likely in Thuringia, while it is at least not ruled out in Saxony.
- In both state parliaments, the FDP has failed to meet the five percent hurdle. The Greens also missed their entry into the state parliament in Thuringia.
- In Thuringia, the CDU could have a majority only with the AfD, but has ruled out a coalition. The Saxon Christian Democrats have won the election – they are now faced with the question of how to deal with the Wagenknecht party. A coalition with the BSW would be a risky move. To the commentary.
- The Thuringian voters showed the Berlin “Traffic Light” coalition the red card. It was the policies of the German federal government that strengthened the fringes. To the commentary.
- Here you can see all results and figures for the Saxony election.
- Here you can see all results and figures for the Thuringia election.
Co-chair of the BSW, Sahra Wagenknecht, reacts to the first projections.
Monday, September 2
3:55 PM: Thuringian CDU representatives for talks with the AfD
The Thuringian CDU should not only hold exploratory talks with the Left Party but also with the AfD, according to a prominent state parliament member. “Over 30 percent of Thuringians voted for the AfD. And it is a sign of respect for the voters to talk to those they elected,” said the President of the Thuringian District Assembly and newly elected member Martina Schweinsburg to the German Press Agency.
“This Pippi Longstocking politics, where you say: ‘The AfD is a naughty child, you can’t play with it,’ has failed,” she said. She assumes that the party would be demystified in serious exploratory talks. The former district administrator of Greiz was elected for the first time to the state parliament through direct mandate.
12:35 PM: Wagenknecht sets conditions for government participation
Sahra Wagenknecht makes a diplomatic initiative for negotiations to end the Ukraine war a condition for government participation in Thuringia and Saxony. Furthermore, the state governments must clearly oppose the stationing of new intermediate-range missiles in Germany. With the BSW as part of a state government, these positions would have to be reflected, demanded Wagenknecht. Half of the people in Germany are afraid of a major war, she said. Two-thirds of the people in East Germany reject the stationing of intermediate-range missiles in Germany.
10:48 AM: AfD loses blocking minority in Saxony
The AfD loses a seat in the Saxon state parliament. Due to a software error, a wrong seat allocation was published overnight following the preliminary results, reported the state election authority in Saxony. After the votes counted, the Greens and the SPD each gained one additional seat, while the CDU and the AfD each lost one seat compared to what was stated. Thus, the AfD loses its blocking minority in the state parliament, which would have allowed it to block certain state laws and the election of constitutional judges.
10:00 AM: Seat distribution in Saxony may have been miscalculated
It is apparently still unclear in Saxony whether the AfD has a so-called blocking minority. The election authority wants to double-check the results regarding the seat distribution in the Saxon parliament. Several parties and experts from Wahlrecht.de assume that the state election officer may have miscalculated the new seat distribution in the parliament, reports the “Leipziger Volkszeitung.” A wrong seat allocation procedure appears to have been applied. The issue is known and is being checked, said a spokesperson for the state election authority.
It may turn out that the AfD has one seat less after the adjusted process. In that case, it would no longer have a blocking minority in the parliament, which would allow it to block certain state laws and the election of constitutional judges.
9:34 AM: Esken wants to continue the Traffic Light coalition
SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken stands by the Traffic Light coalition even after her party’s defeat in the state elections. “We still have a lot to accomplish,” Esken said on Deutschlandfunk. “That’s why I am confident that we will continue to work well together,” emphasized Esken.
On Sunday, there was a “truly bitter result,” which “in no way corresponds to our expectations,” she said. However, Olaf Scholz is “a strong Chancellor who will also lead us in the federal election campaign, and we will win that election with him.” Esken responded to the question of whether Scholz was still the right candidate after the state elections.
9:13 AM: Former CDU General Secretary Czaja advocates cooperation with the Left
Former CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja has called on his party to lift the incompatibility resolution regarding the Left Party. It is absurd that the CDU cannot cooperate with the pragmatic Left, Czaja said to the Editorial Network Germany.
He has always believed this to be wrong. The Left is in East Germany largely a conservative social democracy of East German character. Equating the Left with the AfD trivializes their inhumane thoughts and ideologies. There is also an incompatibility resolution regarding the AfD in the CDU.
8:26 AM: AfD chairwoman Weidel insists on government participation
AfD federal chairwoman Alice Weidel demands government participation for her party. “We must emphasize that without the AfD, stable majorities are not possible,” she said on the morning shows of ARD and ZDF. She does not believe that the “undemocratic firewall” can be maintained. Without the AfD, only left-wing majorities are possible, which is not what the voters want, Weidel stated. The voter as the sovereign has decided in both states for a “middle-right coalition with a bourgeois majority.” The fact that the AfD attracts 30 percent of the voters cannot be ignored.
7:39 AM: Chancellor Olaf Scholz calls election results “bitter”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the results of the state elections as “bitter” and called on the parties in Saxony and Thuringia to form alliances without the AfD. “All democratic parties are now called upon to form stable governments without right-wing extremists,” Scholz told Reuters.
The results for the AfD in Saxony and Thuringia would worry him. “Our country cannot and must not get used to this. The AfD damages Germany. It weakens the economy, divides society, and ruins the reputation of our country,” emphasized Scholz.
12:44 AM: Candidate of the Free Voters wins Leipzig Land 3
The Mayor of Grimma, Mattias Berger, has won a direct mandate for the Free Voters in the Leipzig Land 3 constituency. The 56-year-old has been in power in Grimma for 23 years and is very popular locally. However, he did not want to commit to whether he would accept his direct mandate on election night, reports the “Leipziger Volkszeitung.”
Sunday, September 1
11:19 PM: AfD in Thuringia at 32.8 percent after counting all constituencies
In Thuringia, the AfD has for the first time received the most votes in a state election in Germany. The party of top candidate Björn Höcke achieved a significant plus of 32.8 percent after counting all districts, as announced by the state election authority on its website. It finished clearly ahead of the CDU, which received 23.6 percent. In third place is the newly founded Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which received 15.8 percent and relegated the Left (13.1 percent) to fourth place. The SPD also made it into the state parliament with 6.1 percent, but not the Greens, who only achieved 3.2 percent. Voter turnout was significantly higher than in recent times at 73.6 percent.
10:50 PM: Voter turnout in Saxony reaches record high
According to current data from the state election authorities, 73.5 percent of eligible voters participated in the elections in Saxony and Thuringia. This is the highest voter turnout in Saxony ever. Thuringia had not seen a higher voter turnout since 1994 (74.8 percent). The strong voter turnout also coincided with a noticeable shift in voter preferences. Particularly many CDU voters switched to the AfD in both states. In Saxony, many CDU voters switched to the BSW, while in Thuringia, it was mainly former Left voters who had now chosen Wagenknecht’s new party.
10:45 PM: Mario Voigt misses direct mandate in his constituency
Mario Voigt, state leader and top candidate of the Thuringian CDU, has missed the direct mandate in his constituency. According to the count, the AfD candidate Wiebke Muhsal, who is already a state parliament member, won in the Saale-Holzland-Kreis 2 constituency. She achieved 38.9 percent, while Voigt received 37.5 percent. However, Voigt is likely to retain his mandate in the state parliament, provided his party cannot fill all seats with direct mandates.
10:09 PM: Tino Chrupalla sees AfD at over 40 percent in two years
AfD co-chair Tino Chrupalla criticized the CDU’s “firewall,” which had ruled out a coalition with the AfD in Saxony and Thuringia. If the established parties “continue as they are,” then “in two, three years, we will see that the AfD gets 40, 45 percent.” Voters expect the parties to come together to solve the country’s problems, Chrupalla stated. He called the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer a “free rider,” as he takes up AfD positions.
9:11 PM: Left Party wins two constituencies in Leipzig
In the Saxon major city of Leipzig, the Left Party has won two constituencies. According to a current count, it was elected in constituencies 1 (Center) and 4 (including Leipzig-Connewitz) with approximately 38 and nearly 36 percent. With two direct mandates, entry into the state parliament is thus possible: according to the base mandate clause, this is the case in Saxony even if a party fails to achieve the five percent threshold.
8:58 PM: AfD strongest force among first-time voters
In Thuringia and Saxony, the AfD performed best among first-time voters. According to a poll by Infratest Dimap, 35 percent of first-time voters in Thuringia voted for the right-wing party, while in Saxony, it was 30 percent. The second strongest party among first-time voters in Thuringia is the Left Party with 17 percent, while in Saxony it is the CDU with 18 percent.
8:42 PM: Höcke misses direct mandate
Thuringia’s AfD leader Björn Höcke has reportedly missed his direct mandate according to a current count. He ran for the first time in the Greiz II constituency, hoping for a victory against the CDU competitor Christian Tischner. In the previous state election in 2019, he had also missed the direct mandate in the Eichsfeld constituency against a CDU candidate. For Höcke to enter the state parliament, an AfD list candidate would have to give up their ranking. While he could be elected Minister-President without a state parliament mandate, that is considered extremely unlikely.
8:33 PM: SPD leader Klingbeil wants to “regain people”
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said in a ZDF interview regarding the low voter share for the Social Democrats that his party needs to “regain the people” and meet voters on equal terms. “It needs to be clear that the ‘Traffic Light’ acts in the interests of the citizens,” Klingbeil said. “We all need to exert even more effort than previously.” He wants to prevent the AfD from gaining more influence.
8:28 PM: Left Party in Saxony could win five seats
The Left Party in Saxony may hope for five seats in the state parliament, according to a current projection – although it has missed the five percent threshold with 4.1 percent. In Saxony, the base mandate clause applies, meaning that two direct mandates are sufficient to circumvent the blocking clause. This would allow a party to enter the saxon state parliament for the first time that has mobilized under five percent of voters. The base mandate clause does not apply in Thuringia.
7:48 PM: Migration according to Green Party leader Ricarda Lang is not an issue
Ricarda Lang, co-chair of the Greens, called the election results in Thuringia and Saxony a “historical turning point.” In an interview with ARD, she accused the CDU of inflaming the “enemy image of the Greens” and conducting “campaigning in a nearly republican style.” This has strengthened “populist fringes” and “right-wing extremists.” Asked about the immigration policy of the “Traffic Light” government in Berlin, she denied that this was the most important issue for voters in the state elections. However, she admitted that the governing coalition had “not been able to establish a new kind of stability.” The stability from the “era” of former Chancellor Angela Merkel “is no longer there.”
7:32 PM: FDP Vice Kubicki sees legitimacy loss for the “Traffic Light”
Federal Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki, also party vice for the FDP, commented on the election results in Saxony and Thuringia with sharp words. “The Traffic Light has lost its legitimacy,” he wrote on the social media platform X regarding the current government coalition of FDP, Greens, and SPD in Berlin. There must be “consequences” if “a considerable part of the electorate refuses to grant it approval in this manner.” This harms not only the country but “definitely” also his party.
7:16 PM: Former Left Party chair Janine Wissler on “bitter election night”
Former federal chair of the Left Party Janine Wissler described the “bitter election night” in an ARD interview. Her party is likely to miss the entry into the Saxon state parliament, while in Thuringia it plunged to around 12 percent. Wissler identified migration as the most important theme of the state elections, where her party was hit hard. However, she did not want to speak of mistakes. She accused other parties of having distracted from “real problems” by identifying migration “as the cause of problems” instead of “the unjust distribution of wealth.” She still believes the separation from former Left politician Sahra Wagenknecht, who achieved double-digit results with a new alliance in both states, was the right decision.
6:59 PM: AfD is the strongest force in Saxony
According to forecasts for Saxony, the AfD received 30 to 31.5 percent (2019: 27.5 percent) and is thus behind the Christian Democrats of Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer, who is at 31.5 to 32 percent (2019: 32.1 percent). In third place here as well is the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which is running for the first time, with 11.5 to 12.0 percent. The Left dropped to 4.0 to 4.5 percent (2019: 10.4 percent). The traditionally weak SPD in Saxony landed at 8.5 percent (2019: 7.7 percent), while the Greens scored 5 to 5.5 percent (2019: 8.6 percent). The FDP again fails to exceed the five percent mark with only about 1 percent (2019: 4.5 percent).
6:58 PM: Government party Left crashes in Thuringia
According to forecasts for Thuringia, the AfD can reach 30.5 to 33.5 percent (2019: 23.4 percent), its best result ever in a state election. The Christian Democrats recorded 24.5 percent (2019: 21.8 percent), while the ruling Left Party plummeted to 11.5 to 12.5 percent (2019: 31.0 percent). The newly founded Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), a split from the Left, recorded between 14.5 and 16 percent.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats achieved 6.5 to 7.0 percent (2019: 8.2 percent), while the Greens fall from the state parliament with 4 percent (2019: 5.2 percent). The FDP clearly failed to meet the five percent hurdle, with 1.0 to 1.3 percent (2019: 5.0 percent). Thuringia’s AfD leader and top candidate Björn Höcke described his party’s success as a “historic victory.”
6:54 PM: Saxon AfD candidate Jörg Urban unaffected by criticism
Saxon AfD top candidate Jörg Urban called it “fantastic” that the Saxon voters “gave us their vote so clearly despite the hate.” The AfD is ready to “talk to any party” that wants “change.” He is not impressed by the criticism of many business associations and religious institutions against his party. These are “state institutions” or “companies dependent on the state.” Also, Jewish communities that warned against voting for the AfD would be state-sponsored. However, Jewish community members have also voted for the AfD, Urban noted.
6:36 PM: AfD could achieve blocking minority in Thuringia
According to a current projection, the AfD could reach 30 seats in the Thuringian state parliament. This would correspond to a third of all seats. With this so-called blocking minority, the AfD could block important parliamentary decisions. Without negotiation with the AfD, it would no longer be possible to make changes to the state constitution, to elect the state constitutional judges, or to coordinate the election of the president of the state audit office.
6:29 PM: Björn Höcke speaks of a “historic result”
Thuringia’s AfD leader Björn Höcke described in an ARD interview the “historic result” his party achieved in Thuringia. The AfD is “number one people’s party,” having for the first time become “the strongest parliamentary force.” The result fills him with pride and satisfaction, Höcke continued. He criticized the “stupid firewall behavior” of the CDU, which has ruled out cooperation with the AfD. The AfD is “ready to take on government responsibility.” Next week, the AfD will present proposals to other parties for a possible coalition. It remains to be seen, Höcke said, whether the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht will “jump the firewall.”
6:22 PM: Bodo Ramelow “against the normalization of fascism”
Thuringia’s Left Minister-President Bodo Ramelow stated regarding the significant losses of his party that this is not the end of his political career. He was not voted out because he did not have a majority in Thuringia anyway. The CDU received the most votes of the established parties and must now begin discussions for coalition negotiations. He is not fighting against the CDU or BSW but “against the normalization of fascism.”
Thuringia’s Minister-President Bodo Ramelow The Left after casting his vote in the state election 2024 at the polling station Moritzschule in Erfurt.
6:19 PM: Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht celebrates election result
The Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht celebrates its double-digit election result in Thuringia and Saxony. Katja Wolf, top candidate for Thuringia, praised her party for the speed with which it developed its state election program. The BSW had “worked late into the night in working groups,” Wolf said. In discussions with the AfD, Saxony’s top candidate Sabine Zimmermann expressed her satisfaction with the election result. “With us, politics will change,” Zimmermann claimed. The BSW had been able to maintain its election result from the European elections in June.
6:17 PM: “Not an evening to celebrate,” says SPD General Kevin Kühnert
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert stated regarding the performance of the Social Democrats that it was “not an evening to celebrate.” However, both Thuringia and Saxony are states where the SPD has had a difficult position for many years. Kühnert said it is a success that the SPD remains part of the state parliaments of Thuringia and Saxony.
6:12 PM: CDU according to Mario Voigt the “strongest force of the center”
Thuringia’s CDU chairman Mario Voigt congratulates his party on its election result. “Red-red-green is voted out,” he said at his party’s election celebration, which reached 24.5 percent according to early projections. The Christian Democrats are the “strongest force in the center,” Voigt continued. He is also the top candidate in the election for Minister-President.
CDU top candidate Mario Voigt.
6:10 PM: Alice Weidel criticizes CDU’s “firewall”
AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel criticizes the CDU’s “undemocratic firewall” in both states. “Voters want the AfD to be involved in the government,” she said in a conversation with ARD. The CDU had categorically ruled out cooperation.
6:00 PM: CDU according to forecasts strongest force in Saxony
The winner in Thuringia is the AfD: it reaches 30.5 percent according to the current forecast. The CDU is the second strongest force with 24.5 percent. The Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) achieves 16 percent out of the starting blocks, while the Left Party of Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow is at 12.5 percent. The SPD remains in the state parliament, having reached seven percent. The Greens and FDP, according to the forecast, fail to meet the five percent hurdle with 4 and 1.3 percent respectively.
The electoral winner in Saxony is the CDU according to first projections with 31.5 percent, followed closely by the AfD with 30 percent. The further results are: Left Party 4 percent, Greens 5.5 percent, SPD 8.5, and BSW 12 percent. The FDP is also failing to gain entry to the state parliament with around 1 percent.
Saxony’s AfD top candidate Jörg Urban.
5:53 PM: High voter turnout in Saxony and Thuringia
In the state election in Saxony, 35.4 percent of eligible voters had voted at a polling station by 2 PM. This was reported by the state election officer Martin Richter. In the last election five years ago, this figure was 35.1 percent. Richter expects that more voters may vote by mail this time than in 2019: back then, it was 16.9 percent; this time, according to an estimate, it could be up to 25 percent.
In Thuringia, even higher voter turnout than in Saxony is taking shape. According to Thuringia’s state election officer Holger Poppenhäger, by the afternoon, 44.4 percent had cast their votes in polling stations – more than in 2019 (42.2 percent). By 4 PM, their number had increased to 55 percent.
The most important questions regarding the state elections
Saxony is the most populous and also the strongest industrial state in East Germany. About four million people, almost twice as many as in Thuringia (2.1 million), live in the state bordering Poland and the Czech Republic. The three largest cities in East Germany – Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz – are located in Saxony. However, Saxony is also suffering from emigration, especially from the rural areas.
Saxony is primarily known for its automotive industry with vehicle and engine plants from VW, BMW, and Porsche. In the future, the chip industry is expected to gain importance. In Dresden, Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC, the largest chip manufacturer in the world, plans to open a plant. The German government has supported this settlement with around five billion euros.
In Thuringia, most of the population lives in rural areas. Since reunification in 1990, the population has shrunk particularly significantly: since then, 500,000 people, or about 19 percent of the population, have left the state. After Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia is the state with the second highest emigration rate. The university town of Jena has been a center of the optical industry for over 150 years.
Politically, Thuringia made headlines in 2019. FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich was elected Minister-President with votes from FDP, CDU, and AfD, but resigned after three days. Both FDP federal chairman Christian Lindner and former Chancellor Angela Merkel pressured him to resign – a precedent-setting intervention by federal politicians in state politics. Since then, a red-red-green minority government has been governed by the Left politician Bodo Ramelow at the helm.
Saxony’s Minister-President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) and his wife Annett Hofmann on election day.
Since reunification, the Christian Democrats have uninterruptedly held the minister-presidency in Saxony. This is unique in East Germany. Even this time, the CDU leads in the polls, albeit only narrowly.
The five percent hurdle generally applies. However, in Saxony, two direct mandates are enough to circumvent the blocking clause. This case has not yet occurred in the free state.
In Thuringia, the AfD is currently leading in the polls with up to 30 percent. It could become the strongest force and gain over five percent compared to the last election. The CDU is reaching around 22 percent in the polls, thereby holding its previous election result. The newly founded Wagenknecht party is starting with 18 percent. The Left Party, which recently achieved 31 percent, would thus plummet to 13 percent.
If the Christian Democrats remain the strongest force in Saxony, they could continue their coalition with the SPD and Greens according to current polls. A similarly narrow majority would also exist for a coalition between the CDU and the Wagenknecht party. Mathematically, a coalition of the Christian Democrats with the AfD is also possible, but it has been ruled out by the CDU.
In Thuringia, stable majorities are only possible with the AfD or the BSW. However, all parties, including the Wagenknecht party, rule out a coalition with the AfD. Left Minister-President Bodo Ramelow is prepared for coalitions with all parties except for the AfD – only it seems unlikely that anyone wants to coalition with the Left. The CDU keeps insisting that it will not collaborate with either the AfD or the Left. A coalition between the CDU, BSW, and SPD is more realistic. Based on the current survey results, this would secure 52 percent of the seats.
Christian Democratic Minister-President Michael Kretschmer has been governing Saxony since 2017 and wants to remain in office. Kretschmer is the most popular politician in Saxony; his competitors are far less known in the state.
For the Saxon AfD, Jörg Urban is running, the state leader and faction head of his party. He was involved in the environmental organization “Grüne Liga” before his time as a professional politician. He stands out within the party for his distinctly pro-Russian positions.
The current social and health minister Petra Köpping is the top candidate for the SPD. Köpping ran in 2019 alongside the current defense minister Boris Pistorius for the federal SPD chair but lost. For the Greens, the Saxon justice minister Katja Meier is running, who has been in Kretschmer’s cabinet for five years.
The Wagenknecht party is being led into the election campaign by former Left Bundestag member Sabine Zimmermann and Chemnitz entrepreneur Jörg Scheibe. For the Left Party, the state parliament member Susanne Schaper and political consultant Stefan Hartmann are running.
In Thuringia, Minister-President Bodo Ramelow is applying for a new term. Björn Höcke, head of the faction in the state parliament and co-state leader of the AfD, is the party’s candidate. He founded the “Flügel,” a völkisch alliance within the party in 2015, which was dissolved five years later. The Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution considers both Höcke and the Thuringian AfD state association to be right-wing extremist.
Höcke’s strongest opponent is the Christian Democrat Mario Voigt, state chairman of his party and a professor of political science at a private university in Berlin. The BSW represents the former Left politician Katja Wolf, who was mayor of the western Thuringian city of Eisenach until June. The SPD’s top candidate is Interior Minister Georg Maier, while Environment Minister Bernhard Stengele is the Greens’ candidate in the election. Businessman and former short-term Minister-President Thomas Kemmerich is the top candidate for the Liberals.
AfD, BSW, and CDU campaigned in both states with the demand to limit irregular migration. The SPD promised on posters in Thuringia to hire 1,800 new police officers in the state – and to pay 500 euros in Christmas bonuses to retirees. In both Saxony and Thuringia, all parties declared they would hire more teachers to reduce the staff shortage in schools.
The BSW campaigned in Saxony and Thuringia under the motto “Diplomacy instead of warmongering” for negotiations in the Ukraine war – a topic in which the states have no decision-making power. The alliance will raise its voice at the state level to demand that the federal government finally becomes autonomously diplomatically active, it says in the state election program for Thuringia. CDU candidates in both states also advocate a negotiated solution to the Ukraine war.
According to a current poll by Infratest Dimap, 39 and 25 percent of respondents in Thuringia believe the topics of immigration and education could decide the election. In Saxony, these figures are 44 and 19 percent. The states are responsible for education. While they have no influence on migration policy, they can ensure that deportations are carried out more frequently and consistently.
If a party holds more than a third of the seats in parliament, it can block important parliamentary decisions. In Thuringia, as well as in Saxony, this hurdle could be taken by the AfD. If parties currently in the state parliament fail to gain entry due to the five percent hurdle, the share of seats for the AfD increases as a result.
Parliamentary decisions requiring a two-thirds majority would then no longer be possible without an agreement with the AfD. This includes changes to the state constitution in both states, the election of state constitutional judges, and the election of the president of the state audit office. The strongest party has the first right of nomination for the presidency of the state parliament in both state parliaments.