The Saxon state parliament is set to elect a new Minister President for the Free State on Wednesday (10.00 am). It is unclear whether the re-election of incumbent Michael Kretschmer will work, as the CDU politician has competition. In addition to AfD party and parliamentary group leader Jörg Urban, Matthias Berger also wants to stand as a candidate for the Free Voters. Berger used to be the mayor of Grimma and would like to form a cross-party government of experts.
An absolute majority of votes is required in the first round of voting. This means that at least 61 of the 120 members of parliament would have to vote for a candidate.
The CDU and SPD, as alliance partners in the minority coalition, are ten votes short of a majority of their own, which is why they are reliant on approval from other parliamentary groups. The AfD and Greens do not want to give Kretschmer a vote. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and the Left Party are still keeping a low profile.
It is also unclear whether AfD candidate Urban and Free Voters candidate Berger will run against Kretschmer in the first round. A majority of the votes cast would be enough in the second round. However, if Urban and Berger together have more votes than Kretschmer, the latter would not be elected.
The CDU was the strongest party in the state election on September 1 with 31.9 percent of the vote, just ahead of the AfD (30.6 percent). The CDU/CSU has 41 MPs in parliament, the AfD 30. The BSW is represented by 15 women and men, the SPD by ten MPs. The Greens and the Left have seven and six MPs respectively, while the Free Voters have one.
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