Saxony-Anhalt, Siegmund announces candidacy for Ministerpräsident for December

Ulrich Siegmund announced on September 29, at a press conference in Magdeburg following a Fraktion meeting, that he will stand for Ministerpräsident at the Saxony-Anhalt Landtag’s December plenary session. The AfD Fraktion leader revealed an element that had not previously emerged publicly: ongoing talks not only with the BSW, but also with another Fraktion in the Landtag and with individual MPs from other groups.

We wrote about it on September 11 here: on September 10 the AfD Fraktion had formed in Magdeburg with Siegmund as its leader, while the CDU, SPD, Greens and Linke had rejected the offer of talks and only the BSW had accepted it, with a unanimous resolution from its regional executive. Since then, according to what Siegmund stated today, contacts have expanded beyond the previously known scope.

“Wir sind weiterhin in konstruktiven Gesprächen mit einer anderen Landtagsfraktion und mit einzelnen anderen Abgeordneten” (transl. from German: “We are still in constructive talks with another Fraktion in the Landtag and with individual other MPs”), Siegmund said, without specifying which group is involved or the identity of the individual lawmakers.

The BSW continues to rule out a formal coalition with the AfD, but according to today’s material it is continuing talks on the substance that a possible AfD-led minority government would need to implement: no outcome has been announced so far on this front. The distinction between a coalition agreement and a discussion on substance thus remains the unresolved point, exactly as it was when the Fraktion was formed in September.

On the procedural side, the new Landtag will be constituted on October 6, 2026. The December plenary sessions are scheduled for the 15th to the 17th, but an official date for the vote on the Ministerpräsident has not yet been set. Siegmund’s announcement thus comes before the parliamentary calendar defines the exact timing of the vote, and before it is clear whether the talks with the other Fraktion and with the individual MPs will produce a formalized agreement or will remain, as has so far been the case with the BSW, a dialogue on substance without a governing agreement.