For the "old parties", as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) likes to call everyone but themselves, it was a fiasco with the announcement.
It's at the end AfD, radical right, won as much as 43,8 percent of the vote in the small state of Saxony-Anhalt in the east of Germany, but still missed the absolute majority.
The result has yet to be made official, but the AfD is likely to take 39 seats in the provincial parliament and thus fall short by only three mandates.
The reason for this is that fewer votes remained below the threshold than expected and that the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), another "new party", managed to enter parliament with 5,3 percent.
And maybe to fight again...
It is BSW with five mandates who will be able to be the tip of the scales, if he wants to. Party founder Sarah Wagenknecht, previously the most popular face of the Left, flirted with a possible coalition with AfD, but her people at the bar are not for it.
They are in favor of ruling with "shifting majorities", that is, without a classic ruling coalition, and suggest that the AfD find a non-party candidate for prime minister.
That solution is not to the liking of Urlich Sigmund (35), who carried a right-wing party list in the province and achieved a historic result. He has already brought new elections into play: "Then we will win 50 or 55 percent," he said laconically during the celebration after the vote.
Fiasco for Merc
Even the "old parties" know that any repeat of the election would go to AfD's hands. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats experienced a fiasco with only 17,2 percent, rivaling the AfD only in the group of voters over 70 years old.
Their coalition partners from Berlin, the Social Democrats, took 9,3 percent, while the Left fell to a historic low of 8,6, although it has traditionally been stronger in this province that was once part of the GDR. Only the Greens significantly improved the score to 8,9 percent.
The Liberals, who until now were in the ruling coalition in the province, fell out of the game with only 2,6 percent.
Current provincial prime minister Sven Schulze (CDU) spoke about the heavy defeat. He even personally lost the race for a direct parliamentary mandate in the provincial capital Magdeburg. The question is whether he will stay in the game for a new term at the head of Saxony-Anhalt.
As is the question of how to reach a new coalition. Because the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Left in the crowd have 39 mandates, the same as the AfD alone. In addition, the Christian Democrats have so far rejected cooperation with the Left.
Sigmund (AfD) raised the possibility of being a flyer for his party. "Are there certain MPs who will still allow it?" he asked, referring to the AfD majority.
Cheerful and close
In any case, it will be a stormy Monday in Berlin as well, as the AfD's strengthening is largely attributed to dissatisfaction with the Federal Government headed by Merz, who is the least popular chancellor since it was measured in polls.
The AfD triumphed on the themes of opposition to migration and promises to turn the province upside down. Or, as Sigmund says, "get her back on her feet."
First of all, this can be attributed to the mobilization of people who did not vote in the last elections, the famous abstainers. This time, the turnout was historically high, 77,6 percent compared to only 60 percent in the last election.
Shops Cicero comments that Sigmund succeeded because he battled the "cultural pessimism" that the AfD normally cultivates and led a "cheerful campaign with perfect choreography and close to the people".
"The more the AfD was treated as a scumbag with whom it is best not to engage in anything, the more the party won hearts. This could have been assumed a long time ago and is probably the reason for the high turnout," the magazine writes.
Sigmund is the smiling face of the AfD and avoids the image of a hard-right, even though he is surrounded by such. Sometimes the fans chant his name "Zig-Mund", to the rhythm of the Nazi "zig heil", but he pretends not to hear it or that it's not so scary.
Banning the AfD?
It is certain that another debate will intensify in the coming days, the one about the possible ban of the AfD, a party whose branches in Saxony-Anhalt and elsewhere are under surveillance by the authorities because they are considered "extreme right".
On the Sunday after the election, several cities, such as Frankfurt, gathered thousands of people demanding the banning of the party. Only the Federal Government, the Bundestag or the Bundesrat can initiate this procedure politically, but then the Constitutional Court gives the final word - after who knows how many years of the process.
In Germany, due to the experience with Nazism, it is not at all easy to ban a party, according to lawyers. Thus, even that action, if he dares to do it, could be a tailwind for the AfD.
But before all that, and probably before it is decided what will happen in Magdeburg, there are already elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on September 20. In the latter, the AfD may be the strongest with around 35 percent of the vote, although it is still far from absolute power.
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