German voters went to the polls on Sunday in two state elections that look likely to heap more pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose future has been in the balance since the far right’s triumph in another regional vote this month.
The elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and the capital Berlin follow the Sept 6 election in Saxony-Anhalt, where the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, came close to the rare feat of winning an absolute majority.
Regional elections would not usually draw much interest outside Germany, but the AfD’s success in Saxony-Anhalt, which the party sees as the first step toward winning federal elections due in 2029, has sent shock waves through Europe.
In just over a decade, the party, which wants to take action to send back foreigners with no right to stay in Germany, and quit the euro, has transformed itself toward being the country’s most popular party.
For Merz, whose approval ratings have plunged as low as 14 percent, according to the latest polls, the result was the most recent in a series of blows that have raised doubts in his conservative Christian Democratic Union party about whether he can continue to lead.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the CDU looks likely to suffer, with the most recent opinion poll by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen on Friday putting it at just 6 percent and at risk of failing to clear the minimum threshold to enter the state parliament.
Merz, 70, became Germany’s leader 16 months ago with promises to turn around an economy that has barely grown in years, but has failed to lift a sullen national mood.
The strong showing of AfD in the Saxony-Anhalt election has further weakened the chancellor’s standing at the national level as well, and in the past two weeks there have been calls even from within his own party to replace him as chancellor. No top-level allies have called publicly for his departure, and many have warned against “personnel debates”.