Seven Months to Midnight:

Saxony-Anhalt’s state parliament voted in a new premier on January 28, seven months ahead of schedule.

Sven Schulze, a 46-year-old industrial engineer turned state chairman of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), took the mantle from fellow party member Reiner Haseloff. Haseloff had been leading the small, eastern German state for nearly 15 years, closing in on the end of his third term. Typically, a transfer of power outside the election cycle is predicated by scandal or sudden tragedy, but this was a carefully calculated move by Haseloff, Schulze and their party.

Haseloff indicated already in August 2025 that he would not run for a fourth term. With the right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) polling around 40% in Saxony-Anhalt, it was clear that the CDU, trailing at 26%, needed to take radical action to stave off a far-right wave ahead of the polls in September. The solution was for Haseloff to pass the mantle early to Schulze in an attempt to show voters that they were in good hands with the next generation of CDU leadership.

Although the electorate did not get to vote on the CDU’s grand plan, a majority of the state legislature still had to approve it. The governing coalition, which includes the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the free market-oriented Free Democratic Party (FDP), holds 56 out of the 97 seats, ensuring easy confirmation. Schulze was elected in the first round of voting, and even picked up at least two opposition votes. The Greens and the Left Party responded to the announced result with a smattering of applause; the AfD remained silent.

But outside the chamber, the far right had plenty to say. The loudest voice was that of 35-year-old Ulrich Siegmund, an AfD member of parliament and the party’s lead candidate in the upcoming election. Siegmund was on the offensive earlier in January after Haseloff formalized his resolution to step down, claiming on X that the outgoing leader lied to constituents about intending to serve his full term in office. He asserted that this made the CDU an untrustworthy partner in both politics and personnel matters. Siegmund doubled down on these claims in an interview after Schulze’s confirmation, maintaining that the CDU was subverting the democratic will of the electorate by not subjecting this premeditated transfer of power to a vote. The AfD will undoubtedly use this narrative throughout the year and, because it contains a kernel of truth, it will likely resonate with the public.

The opacity of the CDU’s machinations aside, Schulze’s goal is to win over voters the old-fashioned way: with good governance. If he can prove his competence, the CDU hopes it will be enough to sway potential AfD voters back to the political mainstream. But any government handover, even if intra-party, faces hurdles at the start. Voter expectations will be high, while morale is low, particularly after Intel scrapped in 2025 its plan to build a €30 billion chip factory in Saxony-Anhalt. The project would have created 3,000 jobs and brought a much-needed influx of capital. The cancellation, on top of increasing pressure in the polls, means Schulze cannot just stay the course. He will need to boost employment and attract investors, while keeping the state running smoothly.

For years, mainstream German politicians have used rhetoric to try to dissuade constituents from supporting the far right, making moral arguments for upholding the democratic system. It is not to say that voters do not care about values, or don’t see the negative impact of far-right populism. But in local politics, values and intangibles often come second to kitchen-table issues such as smooth roads, safe streets and quality education. Due to an agreement by moderate parties not to govern with the far-right (creating the so-called “firewall”), the AfD has not yet been able to demonstrate its ability to deliver in these areas. This conveniently gives them the opportunity to convince voters that they absolutely can, if only they are voted into power. Meanwhile, dissatisfaction with the political mainstream is growing across Germany, as some voters feel that foreign and security policy issues are eclipsing domestic concerns.

Schulze’s mission for the next seven months is to negate that assumption and reassure voters that centrist parties can still deliver. It is an admirable, but enormous gamble. Even if he succeeds and the AfD falls short of current projections, the party will almost certainly capture more than a quarter of the vote. If he fails, then the firewall will be extinguished, and Germany’s far right will take a seat at the governing table for the first time since World War II.

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