Chancellor Merz calls Germany state elections results a ‘disaster,’ as far-right surges again

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party is facing a dire set of results in state elections, exit polls show, and is set to be squeezed both by the surging far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and parties on the left.

The AfD is projected to win the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at 38%, the exit poll from Germany’s public broadcaster shows, just two weeks after the party had its best result yet in Saxony-Anhalt.

Merz’s CDU is currently below the 5% threshold to gain representation in parliament, piling pressure on his beleaguered leadership.

Merz described the results in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as a “disaster” in a speech after the exit polls were released.

“We cannot sugar coat the result in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,” Merz said. “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 chancellor remained defiant as he spoke of the need for reform to address Germany’s economic issues and deepening divisions. “The answer cannot be to go back to the good old days,” he said.

In the other election on Sunday, the left-wing Die Linke party leads in Berlin at 26%, followed by the CDU and the Greens, according to the exit polls.

There were audible groans inside the CDU watch party in Berlin as the results were read out for both regions.

Meanwhile, at the watch party for Die Linke, Reuters footage shows the audience was jubilant, cheering and chanting the name of lead candidate Elif Eralp as she spoke.

“In our city, love and justice won over hate,” Eralp told supporters. “And today we showed that together and sent this signal out into the world.”

Prior to Sunday’s projections, the CDU’s worst result in a state election to date was 75 years ago: in 1951, it garnered 9% in Bremen – the only time the party has remained in single digits in a state election.