German Chancellor Merz Vows to Continue Agenda After CDU’s Historic State Election Defeats

Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed the nation from the CDU headquarters in Berlin after exit polls showed the party suffered its poorest state-election outcomes since World War II. The CDU fell to 4.9% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, failing to clear the parliamentary threshold, and trailed in Berlin where Die Linke led with 25.7% and the AfD captured 16.3%.

Merz described the night as a “disaster” for the political centre but pledged to pursue his federal programme of tax and welfare reforms, calling them “the antidote to the poison of authoritarianism.” He said implementing the measures would require “backbone, steadfastness and patience” and that he would demonstrate those qualities as chancellor.

AfD leader Alice Weidel told public broadcaster ARD that Merz is “the wrong chancellor for the CDU” and that his resistance benefits her party. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the AfD outperformed the SPD, though the incumbent SPD governor Manuela Schwesig, who placed second with 35%, is expected to retain office by forming a coalition.

In Berlin, Die Linke’s leader Elif Eralp, whose parents fled Turkey after the 1980 coup, pledged to make the city affordable, proposing a rent cap and the seizure of apartments owned by large corporate landlords. Eralp said Berliners would not tolerate the AfD’s policies, adding that “love and justice have triumphed over hate.”

Germany’s mixed electoral system requires parties to build coalitions. Analysts noted that Merz, whose party co-governs with the SPD at the federal level, faces a difficult consensus-building environment. Sudha David-Wilp of the German Marshall Fund said Merz is unlikely to step down, noting his long-standing ambition to be chancellor and the high bar for removing a German chancellor.