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Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff
Photo: FILIP SINGER / EPA
On Sunday morning, Reiner Haseloff stands in front of his election office in Wittenberg, with his wife Gabriele at his side.
Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister speaks calmly, the glasses steam up over the protective mask.
Haseloff says that he did everything that was "necessary" and "feasible" to convince people.
It is not the appearance of a triumphant.
On the contrary, Haseloff looks almost depressed.
The pressure was recently enormous on the head of government in Magdeburg.
In this state election, the polls said, the AfD threatened to overtake Haseloff's CDU.
It would have been a historic turning point in Germany - and a fatal signal for the Union in the federal government.
A few hours after Haseloff's statement, it seems clear: the drama has apparently been averted.
The AfD remains strong, but the first projections see its Union clearly ahead.
What does that mean for Magdeburg and Berlin?
Three first lessons from the election:
1. The trembling comeback of the People's Party
The polls recently looked threatening for the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt. Sometimes you were only just ahead of the AfD, sometimes even behind it. In any case less than 30 percent - the Christian Democrats had to reckon with that. Now everything is evidently very different. At the end of this election evening, the CDU could come out with a result that is significantly better than the 29.8 percent of 2016. After the Germany-wide bankruptcy experiences of the Conservatives, it is almost something like their comeback as a people's party.
The only question is: what is it worth? There are many indications that the Union owes its success above all to the unstable conditions in the eastern federal state. Even in the state elections in Brandenburg or Thuringia, the heads of government ultimately benefited from the impending scenario of an AfD in first place. Haseloff, too, looks like it can now take advantage of this fear.
In addition: In Saxony-Anhalt, thanks to the Kenya coalition of CDU, SPD and Greens, it has long been normal for political opponents to come together in a purely functional alliance to keep the AfD out of power.
It could come down to that again this time.
An alternative to black-red-green would be the so-called Germany coalition made up of the Union, Social Democrats and Liberals - or the black-green-yellow Jamaica Alliance.
So unclear circumstances, in which one would probably stay in his post, no matter how - Reiner Haseloff.
2. A present for Laschet
For Armin Laschet, a lot could have broken on this Sunday.
A CDU defeat with a simultaneous AfD triumph would certainly have fueled the debate that has been bothering the CDU boss for months.
The question is whether the Union has to move further to the right to take on the AfD.
Under Laschet, his critics accuse him, the Christian Democrats remain too unremarkable.
Laschet may now be spared this fight in the election campaign.
In the end, the union in Saxony-Anhalt scores even without a right swing of the federal leadership.
That shouldn't be Laschet's success, but in any case it is not his defeat.
The voters in Saxony-Anhalt are making Laschet an invaluable gift.
After his catastrophic start as a candidate for chancellor, it was clear to everyone in the Union: Laschet will no longer be a man for a euphoric mood of optimism in this election campaign.
Instead, sit out is the motto.
Baerbock boom and corona frustration, the mood will turn around.
What Laschet needs above all for this is calm - and he now has it.
3. Small and unsuccessful
For those who still hope for a center-left alliance in the Bund, this evening brings bad news.
Apparently the Greens in Saxony-Anhalt hardly benefit from their strong values throughout Germany, the SPD continues to shrink, the Left - once a people's party in the East - falls.
Red-red-green is miles away from a majority in Saxony-Anhalt.
One possible reason: Anyone who is small and has no prospects of a leadership position in the country has a hard time in this election, in which the focus has recently been entirely on the CDU and AfD - and on Prime Minister Haseloff.
For the Greens and the SPD, this means: Both cannot be sure whether they will be allowed to continue to govern in Magdeburg.
And for their chancellor candidates Annalena Baerbock and Olaf Scholz, this choice does not bring one thing: tailwind.
