The embattled chancellor, however, pushed back against any speculation he could have to step down and vowed to press on with reforms
BERLIN — Germany’s increasingly embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz conceded that a key regional election on Sunday was a “disaster” as exit polls suggested the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was on course for its second win in two weeks.
He pushed back, however, against increasing speculation that he would have to step down and vowed to push through his reform agenda as chancellor with “backbone, steadfastness, and patience.”
An exit poll on the ARD broadcaster put the AfD’s vote in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at 37% — just ahead of the center-left Social Democratic Party on 35.5%. The AfD’s national co-leader, Tino Chrupalla, called the initial Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania result a “sensation.”
That result comes hard on the heels of the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sept. 6 where the far right won so convincingly that it could potentially now govern a German state for the first time since the 1940s.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the SPD should have sufficient support to form a coalition and stop the AfD running the state, but the results for Merz’s Christian Democratic Union were catastrophic. It won only 5.5% of the vote, according to the exit poll — the worst outcome for his party in any regional or national election since the end of World War II.
“We can’t sugarcoat the results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It’s a disaster. The CDU fought hard, but in the end, it was crushed in the escalating confrontation between the SPD and the AfD,” Merz said after the exit polls.
While the CDU’s unpopularity has sparked discussion of a Kanzlertausch — or chancellor swap — Merz responded to his party’s regional drubbing by doubling down on his pledge to deliver on a reform agenda.
“Germany is capable of reform. I would even go so far as to say that these reforms are the antidote to the poison of authoritarianism,” he said. “What needs to be done now requires backbone, steadfastness, and patience. I will demonstrate these qualities as chairman of the CDU and, above all, as chancellor of our country.”
Merz has staked his chancellorship on tackling economic and welfare reforms that previous governments deemed too politically difficult, even branding himself the “reform chancellor.” His agenda includes raising the retirement age to shore up the pension system, cutting some health-insurance benefits to curb rising premiums and making it harder for workers to take sick leave in an effort to boost growth.
In Berlin, Die Linke, or the Left party, is on course to finish first with 24.5%, according to the ARD exit poll, ahead of Merz’s CDU on 20%, which currently controls the mayor’s office in the capital.