Third Haseloff cabinet

Third Cabinet of Reiner Haseloff Haselhoff III
10th Cabinet of Saxony-Anhalt
16 September 2021 –
Reiner Haseloff in November 2019
Date formed	16 September 2021
People and organisations
Minister-President	Reiner Haseloff
Deputy Minister-President	Armin Willingmann Lydia Hüskens
No. of ministers	9
Member parties	Christian Democratic Union Social Democratic Party Free Democratic Party
Status in legislature	Coalition government 56 / 97
Opposition parties	Alternative for Germany The Left Alliance 90/The Greens
History
Election	2021 Saxony-Anhalt state election
Legislature term	8th Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt
Predecessor	Second Haseloff cabinet

The Third Haseloff cabinet is the current state government of Saxony-Anhalt, sworn in on 16 September 2021 after Reiner Haseloff was elected as Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt by the members of the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the 10th Cabinet of Saxony-Anhalt.

It was formed after the 2021 Saxony-Anhalt state election by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Free Democratic Party (FDP). Excluding the Minister-President, the cabinet comprises nine ministers. Six are members of the CDU, two are members of the SPD, and one is a member of the FDP.

Formation

See also: 2021 Saxony-Anhalt state election

The previous cabinet was a coalition government of the CDU, SPD, and Greens led by Minister-President Reiner Haseloff.

The election took place on 6 June 2021, and resulted in a substantial swing toward to CDU, while the SPD recorded small losses and the Greens slight gains. The opposition AfD and The Left also suffered losses, while the FDP re-entered the Landtag with 6%.

Overall, the incumbent coalition increased its majority; the CDU and SPD alone held a one-seat majority. The CDU announced that they would seek exploratory talks with the SPD, Greens, and FDP. The Greens ruled out renewing the outgoing government on the basis that their involvement was no longer mathematically necessary.^[1] The FDP initially rejected a coalition with the CDU and SPD on the same grounds, but recanted their position two days after the election and stated they were open to talks.^[2]

Exploratory discussions began on 21 June with a meeting between the CDU and SPD.^[3] By 2 July, the CDU and FDP had come to an agreement on a number of points, and stated that they were seeking a third partner for a coalition. The CDU also noted that they had found difficulties during talks with the Greens, and wished for another meeting with the SPD.^[4]

On 7 July, the CDU, SPD, and FDP announced their intention to begin coalition negotiations together.^[5] After some debate, on 16 July the SPD party congress gave their approval for the party to commence negotiations.^[6] They began on 19 July and concluded with a 15-hour meeting on 6 August, at which the parties finalised their coalition contract and agreed to present it on the 9th.^[7]

The CDU and SPD both held membership ballots to approve the pact. The SPD announced their results on 4 September, with 63.4% of members approving the coalition on 60.4% turnout. The CDU announced on 10 September that their membership had voted 92.1% in favour; the FDP party congress also passed the contract later that evening with 98% approval from delegates.^[8] It was formally signed on 13 September.^[9]

Reiner Haseloff was elected Minister-President by the Landtag on 16 September after two rounds of voting. He unexpectedly lost the first ballot, receiving 48 votes in favour to 49 against, with no abstentions. On the second ballot, he was elected with 53 votes in favour to 43 against and one abstention.^[10]

Minister-President election
Ballot →		16 September 2021
Required majority →		49 out of 97 N	49 out of 97 Y
	Reiner Haseloff	48 / 97	53 / 97
	Against	49 / 97	43 / 97
	Abstentions	0 / 97	1 / 97

Composition

Portfolio	Minister		Party		Took office	Left office	State secretaries
Minister-President		Reiner Haseloff born (1954-02-19) 19 February 1954 (age 70)		CDU	16 September 2021	Incumbent
First Deputy Minister-President Minister for Science, Energy, Climate Protection and Environment		Armin Willingmann born (1963-01-13) 13 January 1963 (age 61)		SPD	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Thomas Wünsch (Science) Steffen Eichner (Environment)
Second Deputy Minister-President Minister for Infrastructure and Digital Affairs		Lydia Hüskens born (1964-03-26) 26 March 1964 (age 60)		FDP	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Sven Haller (Infrastructure) Bernd Schlömer (Digital Affairs, Chief information officer)
Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Equality		Petra Grimm-Benne born (1962-04-27) 27 April 1962 (age 62)		SPD	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Wolfgang Beck Susi Möbbeck (Integration)
Head of the Chancellery Minister for Culture		Rainer Robra born (1951-10-15) 15 October 1951 (age 73)		CDU	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Michael Schneider (Federal and European Affairs, Representative to the Federal Government) Sebastian Putz (Culture)
Minister for Interior and Sport		Tamara Zieschang born (1970-08-21) 21 August 1970 (age 54)		CDU	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Klaus Zimmermann
Minister for Economics, Tourism, Agriculture and Forests		Sven Schulze born (1979-07-31) 31 July 1979 (age 45)		CDU	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Jürgen Ude Gert Zender
Minister for Finance		Michael Richter born (1954-06-27) 27 June 1954 (age 70)		CDU	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Rüdiger Malter Klaus Klang
Minister for Education		Eva Feußner born (1963-03-12) 12 March 1963 (age 61)		CDU	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Frank Diesener
Minister for Justice and Consumer Protection		Franziska Weidinger born (1976-10-08) 8 October 1976 (age 48)		CDU	16 September 2021	Incumbent	Josef Molkenbur

External links

• "The State Government". Sachsen-anhalt.de (in German). Retrieved 16 March 2022.

References

1. "State elections in Saxony-Anhalt: Little hope left for the Kenya coalition". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). 8 June 2021.
2. "Exploratory talks in Saxony-Anhalt are scheduled to start next week". Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (in German). 10 June 2021.
3. "Saxony-Anhalt: CDU and SPD start exploratory talks". Volksstimme (in German). 21 June 2021.
4. "The CDU and the Greens continue to keep doors open for coalition negotiations". Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (in German). 2 July 2021.
5. "CDU wants to form a coalition with SPD and FDP". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 7 July 2021.
6. "SPD votes for negotiations with CDU and FDP". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 16 July 2021.
7. "CDU, SPD and FDP in Saxony-Anhalt agree on governing alliance". Tagesspiegel (in German). 9 August 2021.
8. "CDU and FDP agree - Saxony-Anhalt: the way for a coalition is clear". ZDF (in German). 10 September 2021.
9. "CDU, SPD and FDP sign coalition agreement in Saxony-Anhalt". Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (in German). 13 September 2021.
10. "Haseloff re-elected Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt". Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (in German). 16 September 2021.