At the last city council elections in 2004, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union), SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) and PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) split the majority with 25% of the vote each, followed by the Green Party with 10%. The mayor, Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD), was re-elected in April 2005 by a narrow majority. His stay in the Neues Rathaus would be a short one, however. At the end of 2005, the newly elected German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, selected Tiefensee to be her Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs. A by-election was held in February 2006, which Burkhard Jung (SPD) won by a sound majority.
Saxony’s capital is Dresden, a beautiful baroque city on the Elbe River about an hour’s drive southeast of Leipzig. The Saxon Parliament and all state ministries are seated there.