CDU after the election in Saxony-Anhalt: He can't do anything else

The Chancellor in a netted shirt is something you rarely see. The day after the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Friedrich Merz at least refrained from any attempt to sugarcoat the situation - "heaviest election defeat in decades" - and practiced self-criticism: "I will try to do better." In doing so, Merz rightly took responsibility for an election result that brought the CDU to the brink and the right-wing extremists to power. However, it is not to be expected that he will draw the right conclusions from this.

The Chancellor, who reliably manages to strike the wrong tone, wants to work on his communication. He wants to better reach people's emotions and address their legitimate concerns. These words immediately warm your heart. What is crucial, however, is that Merz emphasizes that he stands by his basic beliefs.

And they are and will remain neoliberal. For him, as the author of the booklet “Dare More Capitalism,” the welfare state is far too fat. And in his opinion, there is an “unaffordable convenience and supply mentality” among the population. The current Chancellor's reform policy also follows these almost 20-year-old certainties: there are tax cuts and less bureaucracy for companies, and cuts in health and care as well as new regulations for employees. And with the kind permission of the SPD.

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It is foreseeable that the reforms will lead to new inequality in society and the right-wing radicals will suck hate from this nectar. The authors of the Leipzig authoritarianism study see social inequality as a stress factor for democracy. A government that wants to shrink the right-wing extremists should do more to ensure equal living conditions. For capitalism fan Merz, however, inequality is necessary and a reason to try harder.

After the elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, there is a threat of an AfD government for the first time. The taz reports what is at stake - and who is now defending democracy. All texts about the series can be found here.

You can't blame him for acting like that; by the way, unlike the AfD, he has never hidden it behind cheap words. And the voters have chosen the Union, with Merz as the top candidate, as the strongest party in the 2025 federal election. Just as they made the AfD by far the strongest force in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday.

Incidentally, when it comes to the economy, this is strikingly close to the Merz CDU: It wants to reduce taxes for top earners and for companies, cut benefits for basic security recipients and abolish inheritance and wealth taxes. 44 percent of voters voted for it. Also to give Merz a lesson. You can do it. But then no one should cry because they would have expected something different.