Live blog on elections in Saxony and Thuringia: High voter turnout

Saxony and Thuringia are electing new state parliaments. The balance of power could shift significantly. By the afternoon, there were signs of a high voter turnout. All developments in the live blog.

You can also read everything about the election in the Free State of Saxony in MDR-Live ticker.

You can also read everything about the election in the Free State of Thuringia in MDR-Live ticker.

After the state elections in Thuringia, the AfD will not allow journalists to visit its elected party. This was confirmed by the deputy spokesman of the AfD state association, Torben Braga. Media representatives are instead to interview AfD party and parliamentary group representatives in the Thuringian state parliament in the evening.

In the state election in Saxony, 35.4 percent of those eligible to vote had voted in a polling station by 2 p.m. This is slightly higher than in the state election five years ago (35.1 percent), said state election officer Martin Richter. However, the election officer expects far more people to vote by post than in 2019. It is expected that 24.6 percent of those eligible to vote will exercise their right to vote by post. Five years ago, the figure was 16.9 percent.

There is a high voter turnout in the state election in Thuringia. By 2 p.m., around 44.4 percent of eligible voters had cast their vote at the polling station, according to the state election officer in Erfurt. That was more than in 2019 (42.2 percent), and given the general trends in elections in recent years, a higher proportion of postal voters is to be expected. 1.66 million citizens are called upon to vote.

In the recent polls, the AfD was clearly ahead of the CDU, followed by the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) coalition and the Left Party of Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow. The SPD is threatened with a historically bad result, the Greens have to worry about entering the state parliament, and the FDP was given little chance of doing so.