Merz Under Pressure After CDU Collapses to 4.9% in German State Election

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is facing renewed pressure after his Christian Democratic Union suffered its worst postwar state-election result, taking just 4.9% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and losing its representation in the state parliament. The Alternative for Germany won the election with 38.3% of the vote, more than double its 16.7% result in the state in 2021, while the governing Social Democrats finished second.

For the CDU, the result was historic. Germany’s 5% electoral threshold means the party failed to win enough support to enter the state parliament, the first time it has suffered that fate in a German state election. The result represents a dramatic decline from the CDU’s 13.3% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2021 and 19% in 2016.

The defeat has increased pressure on Merz after a series of difficult state elections for Germany’s traditional governing parties. The CDU also lost ground in Berlin, where the far-left Die Linke finished first, adding to evidence of voters moving away from the parties that have dominated German politics for decades. Reuters reports that the results have intensified questions about Merz’s leadership and his government’s ability to restore support for the political centre.

Merz has rejected suggestions that he should step aside and says he intends to remain chancellor and continue his government’s reform programme. His administration is pursuing changes to pensions, healthcare and taxation as it attempts to revive Europe’s largest economy, but the electoral setbacks increase the political pressure surrounding those reforms.

The Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania result does not determine the composition of Germany’s federal government, and voting in one state should not be treated as a prediction of a future national election. The immediate result is nevertheless striking: the AfD won 38.3% while the chancellor’s CDU received just 4.9%, leaving one of Germany’s traditional governing parties without a single seat in the state parliament.

Sources

• Reuters: AfD leads as Merz rues ‘disaster’ in worst state election result in postwar Germany
• AP: Merz vows to press ahead with reforms after historic German state election defeat