CDU state associations in Saxony and Thuringia launch election campaign with Merz

With the support of federal chairman Friedrich Merz, the CDU state associations of Saxony and Thuringia are launching a joint election campaign today. Merz will give a speech in the evening at an event in Meerane in the border region of the two federal states, as the party announced in advance. Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer and Thuringia's state chairman Mario Voigt are also expected to attend.

State elections are due to be held in both states on September 1. In Saxony, the CDU has been in government without interruption since 1990, since 2017 with Kretschmer at the helm, who wants to defend his office once again. Most recently, an Infratest survey put the party at 29%, just behind the AfD (30%).

In neighboring Thuringia, the CDU/CSU wants to bring about a change in policy with Voigt as its top candidate and return to the position of Minister President after almost ten years in opposition. Here too, however, the AfD was ahead in an Insa survey at the end of June with 29%, while the CDU came in second with 22%, just ahead of the BSW (20%). In Thuringia, Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) is currently governing in a minority government together with the SPD and the Greens.