Zwei Tage nach Landtagswahl: Ministerpräsident Schulze zu CDU-Fraktionschef gewählt

Two days after the defeat in the Saxon-Anhalt state election, CDU parliamentary group leader Sven Schulze was chosen as their new party leader. The 47-year-old surprisingly entered the race and won the vote in a runoff with party incumbent Guido Heuer by a vote of seven to eight, according to dpa reports. The "Spiegel" also covered Schulze's election.

Rumors had circulated just a few hours before the vote that Schulze might run for the position of faction leader. Only on Monday evening, the CDU state association had announced a personnel reshuffle. Schulze had announced a re-election of the CDU state executive at the end of November/early December. Bundestag representative Sepp Müller declared that he had wanted to run for the position of leader.

When asked by journalists if he would run for the position again, Schulze stated, "This is not my plan at the moment." After the election, the AfD was the clear winner, with 43.8 percent of the votes, ahead of the CDU with 17.2 percent. The CDU's performance was the worst in a Saxon-Anhalt state election since reunification, with a halving of their vote share, resulting in a loss of 25 seats.

In the new state parliament, the CDU now has only 15 representatives. The SPD, Linke, and Greens each have eight seats, while the BSW made its debut in the Saxon-Anhalt state parliament with five representatives. The AfD secured 39 of the 83 total seats, falling three short of an absolute majority. Choosing a Minister-President as the leader of a state parliament faction is unusual, but this particular case in Magdeburg is not unprecedented.

Former Rhineland-Palatinate Minister-President Alexander Schweitzer had also run for the leadership of the SPD faction in Rhineland-Palatinate before stepping down as head of the government to Gordon Schnieder (CDU).