It was not only the ARD that kept the CDU on tenterhooks on election night in Dresden, because it presented the forecasts for Thuringia first. Even when the forecasts for Saxony appeared on the screen, the mood was not quite relaxed. Some people in the parliamentary group room responded to the CDU forecast with a “yes” and applauded. This was not exactly cheering. The AfD was already hot on the CDU's heels in the early evening. But the Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, was sure of his victory early on. He entered the parliamentary group room at around half past six. The people “did not vote in protest,” he told his supporters. Later projections put the CDU at 31.7 percent and the AfD at 30.6 percent.
