Saxon FDP seeks new strategy after election defeat

The Saxon FDP is trying to get back on its feet after its low blow in the state elections with only 0.9 percent of the vote. The result will now be evaluated with the party council, said deputy state leader Thomas Kunz. It was also a matter of sorting out the financial matters. It is not yet entirely clear what the consequences will be.

Normally, a party only receives money from state party funding once it has achieved one percent in state elections. The Saxon Liberals are now examining whether the result of the federal election will also have an impact. In 2021, the Free Democrats received 11% in Saxony.

The FDP in Saxony was in a similar situation once before in 1999. At the time, the leadership seemed completely headless and threw in the towel. Holger Zastrow took over the party and led it back into the state parliament in 2004. In 2009, the FDP became the CDU's junior partner in the government. However, Kunz does not want to compare the current situation with 1999. Now they have a team that works with a strong team spirit. At the moment, there is more of a signal from the grassroots that the state executive is once again gaining trust, said Kunz.

According to Kunz, the FDP has fallen into a spiral. Federal issues had massively dominated the election campaign and Saxon issues had played no role. "Basically, it was a small federal election campaign that we experienced." One has to ask oneself whether it was strategically sensible to focus on state issues.

Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) did this cleverly during the election campaign and repeatedly blamed the traffic light system for problems. "The result was strongly influenced by the traffic light system. That cannot be denied. The task now is to learn the lessons for the future."