The polling stations for the state election in Saxony have been open since 8.00 am. Around 3.3 million people can cast their vote until 6 p.m. and thus elect the state parliament for the next five years.
For weeks, the AfD and CDU have been in a neck-and-neck race for first place. In two surveys by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen and Forsa, the CDU was most recently in the lead with 33%, while the AfD was at 30 to 31%. A few days earlier, an Insa survey had put the AfD in the lead. All other relevant parties have rejected a coalition with the AfD, which is classified in Saxony as a certain far-right party.
The Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance has clearly established itself as the third-strongest force in the polls with values of up to 15 percent and most recently stood at twelve percent. With six to seven percent, the SPD would also make it back into the state parliament, as would the Greens with six percent. According to the polls, the Left Party could fail to reach the five percent hurdle.
In the state election five years ago, the CDU came first with 32.1 percent of the second votes, ahead of the AfD (27.5 percent). Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) governs in a coalition with the Greens and SPD.
After the polling stations closed, the first forecasts were made, followed by the projections later in the evening.
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