Chancellor Merz Clings to Power Despite CDU Collapse and Far-Right Surge
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Friedrich Merz, facing a humiliating defeat for the conservative CDU and a disturbing rise of the far-right AfD, refuses to step down and instead vows to press on with neoliberal reforms that have failed ordinary Germans.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defiantly declared he will remain in office, doubling down on his government’s unpopular reform agenda even as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a historic collapse in two state elections on Sunday. According to exit polls from public broadcaster ARD, the CDU managed a meager 5% of the vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania—its lowest result in any state since the end of World War II—while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) capitalized on public discontent to increase its support.
Merz, calling the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania result a “disaster,” tried to spin the defeat as a call for more “backbone, steadfastness and patience” in pushing through reforms that have only deepened economic and political crises for working people. In Berlin, the CDU is projected to finish a distant second with around 20% of the vote, trailing the Left party, which secured 24.5% by offering a real alternative to austerity and social neglect.
The CDU’s earlier defeat to the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt had already exposed the bankruptcy of Merz’s leadership, and grassroots party members are now voicing the need for change, even as party elites close ranks to protect their positions. Merz’s decision to cancel a trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York signals his desperation to maintain control amid growing unrest, but his refusal to resign shows a disregard for the democratic will of the people demanding a break from failed conservative policies.