Three weeks after the Sept. 6 election that gave the Alternative for Germany (AfD) 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt, the state’s Christian Democrats have refused to take part in talks on forming a government, removing the only avenue to produce one.

A majority government would require at least 42 of the parliament’s 83 seats. The AfD holds 39. The CDU (15), SPD (8), Greens (8) and Linke (8) together hold exactly 39 as well, with Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW holding the remaining 5. Those five parties together come to 44 — a majority on which a government could be formed.

On Sept. 24 the SPD invited the CDU, Greens, Linke and BSW — every party but the AfD — to meet in Magdeburg Tuesday, Sept. 29, to discuss the formation of a government.

But the CDU has rejected the SPD invitation: “The CDU Saxony-Anhalt will not participate in these talks... The state executive committee has decided to go into opposition.”

Faced with this desertion from the attempt to form a government without the AfD, the SPD has declared it wants to discuss the BSW proposal to elect a non-partisan Minister President. But this is possible only if at least several CDU and AfD members would support that option, which implies that such a government would have to look for majorities on a case-by-case basis. If that fails, early elections come on the agenda.