Kretschmer warns: minority government in Saxony is not a solution

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Saxony's political landscape is currently being shaped by intensive discussions about government formation and possible voting fraud. Michael Kretschmer, the incumbent Prime Minister of Saxony and a member of the CDU, has clearly spoken out against the idea of a minority government. In his opinion, such a form of the government requires a significant degree of willingness to compromise, which it considers difficult. Kretschmer told the "Leipziger Volkszeitung" that it makes little sense to choose someone as prime minister if no coalition negotiations could take place.

Political neutrality in Saxony could be put to the test if there is an unsuccessful government formation. Kretschmer emphasized that the failure of the talks would result in a new election of the state parliament by the beginning of February 2024, which could continue to endanger the political stability of the state. He warned potential conversation partners not to put too many preconditions because this could significantly hinder the progress of the negotiations. Specifically, the CDU plans to offer talks with the BSW, the SPD and the Greens.

Investigations into election fraud

In the middle of these political tensions, serious allegations regarding possible election manipulations in the state election. The election manager of Dresden, Markus Blocher, announced that a total of 112 manipulated ballot papers were found in all eight constituencies in the city. These ballot papers were part of the postal voting and were exposed in the course of the election process.

The Attorney General has now started investigations after it has been determined that unknown 126 postal lists have changed so that they went to the right -wing extremist small party. This not only represents a potential legal problem, but also throws a shadow on the integrity of the entire election process. Voting slips from different electoral districts are affected, both in Dresden and in the nearby city of Radeberg. The police and the State Criminal Police Office are also involved in the investigations.

Furthermore, it is checked whether similar manipulations have already taken place in local elections in June. The irregularities in the voices for the Free Saxons, which were particularly striking in various city council and local council elections, were found by political scientists from the TU Dresden. Michael Krell, an expert in this area, expressed concerns whether such a comprehensive voting fraud could have been experienced for the first time in a new kind state election.

software breakdown without effects

In addition to the political uncertainty, there were technical problems in addition to political uncertainty, but according to the state election management. A software breakdown had initially confused the calculation of the distribution of seats in the new Saxon state parliament. Despite these technical difficulties, the state election management makes it clear that the preliminary election result was not affected. According to these results, the CDU is 31.9 percent at the top, followed by the AfD with 30.6 percent. The BSW receives 11.8 percent, while the SPD and Greens come to 7.3 and 5.1 percent. The left and the FDP have to be satisfied with 4.5 and 0.9 percent.

The state election committee will now check the final distribution of seats in the 8th Saxon state parliament. Despite the corrections, it seems that the AfD will not have the necessary blocking minority in order to ensure significant influence in the new state parliament. The group leader of the Saxon AfD has already indicated legal steps if irregularities are found.

The political situation in Saxony remains tense because both the coalition talks and the investigation into election fraud allegations will significantly influence the outcome of the coming months.