Prof. Dr. Volker Kronenberg explained that the Left Party and the Greens could expect strong results, particularly in large cities, since both parties are firmly rooted in urban areas. The issue of rent prices is a particular focus for voters there. This is more evident in Berlin than in more rural states like Saxony-Anhalt. There, the smaller parties lost prominence, particularly as the election campaign centered on the two candidates, Sven Schulze and Ulrich Siegmund, although the Greens achieved an unexpectedly high result. According to Kronenberg, this was due to voters strategically weighing their choices—a trend that is also expected in other state elections.
In the second part of the interview, Kronenberg responded to statements made by Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder at a press conference with the Austrian Chancellor. There, Söder presented himself as a “statesman” and spoke about a range of issues such as migration, education, and bureaucracy in the European Union, but refrained from any criticism of Chancellor Merz. In the current debate over Friedrich Merz’s future as chancellor, Söder—as an experienced politician—is refraining from taking the offensive, but he is not ruling anything out in principle and will in any case ensure that the CSU has a say in personnel matters at the federal level.