Political Parties React To Brandenburg And Saxony State Elections Results

BERLIN, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 02: Christian Lindner, head of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) arrives for a press conference the day after elections in the eastern German states of Brandenburg and Saxony on September 2, 2019 in Berlin, Germany. In both races the established parties, namely the German Social Democrats (SPD) in Brandenburg and the German Christian Democrats (CDU) in Saxony, took heavy losses compared to the last elections five years ago but nevertheless emerged in first place. The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) claimed the biggest gains, coming in second in both elections, while the German Greens Party finished with smaller gains than pre-election polls were indicating. Die Linke, the leftist party that traditionally has most identified itself as representing the interests of eastern Germans, lost heavily, while the German Free Democrats (FDP) failed in both states to reach the minimum 5% needed for seats in the state parliaments. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)