BERLIN (AFP) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he plans to stay in office after his party’s losses in two state elections on Sunday, and again doubled down on the government’s plans for potentially painful reforms to Europe’s biggest economy.
The far-right AfD party had a narrow lead of about 37% in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania against 35% for the centre-left SPD, according to exit polls by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
Merz’s CDU crashed below 5% in the ex-communist eastern German state, meaning it got kicked out of parliament -- its worst result ever and an outcome Merz admitted was a “disaster”.
In Berlin, the far-left Die Linke party with about 25% easily defeated the ruling CDU, which scored 19%.
In a televised address after the polls closed at 6pm local time, Merz said the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was a “disaster” for his party and vowed to accelerate reforms as CDU party leader and chancellor to bring Germany forward.
“The reforms have to come,” he said. “I am taking on this responsibility, because I want to move our country forward.”
The anti-migration, Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany party made significant gains in both elections Sunday. The vote came two weeks after AfD finished just short of a majority in the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, and has its best chance yet of forming the country’s first far-right regional government since World War II.
Merz’s authority was severely damaged by his party’s stinging defeat in the Sept. 6 election by AfD — a result that shocked many Germans who had believed their country had developed an immunity to nationalism and assertions of racial superiority after confronting the horrors of its Nazi past through education and laws to outlaw persecution.
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 and has himself become deeply unpopular.
The strong showing of AfD in the Saxony-Anhalt election has further weakened the chancellor’s standing on 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.”
Apparently anticipating a tough postelection period, Merz abandoned a planned trip to New York next week to attend the UN General Assembly. Despite the strong headwinds, he has repeatedly said that he’s determined to stay on and finish his term as chancellor.