The Free Democratic Party (FDP), which narrowly failed to re-enter the Landtag in 2016, won 6.4% of votes and 7 seats.

The AfDs leader Oliver Kirchner on the other hand was barely known to the public, with polls showing he would garner single-digit support if the Minister-President was elected directly.

The last übergroß coalition, popular in times of crises, for example in West Berlin in the post-WWII years, was formed in Hamburg in 1970.

The gamble paid off,[clarification needed] since the Landtag didn't elect Haseloff on the first ballot, which some commentators attributed to right-wing dissent within the CDU faction.

[7] In the previous election held on 13 March 2016, the CDU remained the largest party with 29.8% of votes cast, a decline of 2.7 percentage points.

[8] On 12 July 2020, The Left party executive nominated deputy Landtag leader Eva von Angern as their lead candidate for the election.

Some within the party disapproved of the executive nominating a preferred nominee ahead of time, and desired an open contest between candidates at the conference.

The party's district associations in Jerichower Land, Saalekreis, and Magdeburg signed an open letter expressing their disappointment.

[13] The Free Democratic Party, which narrowly failed to enter the Landtag in 2016, elected deputy leader Lydia Hüskens as its lead candidate on 26 September 2020.

[14] On 20 December 2020, AfD parliamentary group leader Oliver Kirchner was nominated as his party's lead candidate for the election.

[15] The CDU's clear victory was not predicted by opinion polling, which suggested that the party was likely to win a plurality, but would not exceed 30% of the vote.

However, commentators pointed to the personal popularity of Minister-President Haseloff, who they noted had distanced himself from federal chairman Armin Laschet, endorsing rival Markus Söder during the contest for the Chancellor candidacy in April.

[18][2] In addition, the Saxony-Anhalt branch of AfD is considered to be quite extreme even by national party's standards and had been under surveillance since June 2021.

[3] Minister-President Haseloff stated that he would hold government discussions with "all democratic parties", and ruled out a coalition with the AfD or The Left.