German Chancellor Friedrich Merz branded his party’s election collapse a “disaster” after the far-right populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged to victory in another state on Sunday, dealing a fresh blow to his embattled government.
The AfD won 38.3% of the vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday, ahead of the center-left Social Democrats on 35.4%. Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) crashed to just 4.9%, its worst result in a German state election since World War II.
“We cannot sugarcoat the result in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,” Merz said after the results emerged. “It is a disaster. The CDU fought hard, but in the end it was the CDU that got crushed in the polarization between the [Social Democratic Party] and the AfD.”
The result leaves the CDU below the 5% threshold required for representation in the state parliament. It also piles further pressure on Merz just two weeks after the AfD inflicted another major defeat on his party in Saxony-Anhalt.
Merz nevertheless vowed to pursue his reform agenda, insisting that Germany’s economic problems required further action. “The answer cannot be to go back to the good old days,” he warned.
The picture was little better for the chancellor in Berlin, where the Left party finished first with 25.3% of the vote. The CDU fell to second on about 19%, while the AfD increased its share to more than 16%, up sharply from its showing in the capital’s previous election.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel seized on the results to intensify pressure on the chancellor, declaring that her party had “overtaken the CDU.”
“People want a change of policy,” Weidel said, describing Merz as “strongly damaged.” She added: “I believe the CDU cannot continue with Friedrich Merz, with a weak chancellor.”
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