German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he will remain in office after exit polls pointed to sharp setbacks for his centre-right Christian Democratic Union in elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Merz described the projected result as a “disaster” after polls closed on Sunday. The votes came as he faces weak approval ratings and speculation in Germany that he could be replaced before the end of his term through a so-called chancellor swap.
In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, public broadcaster ZDF projected that the CDU would only narrowly enter the state parliament. The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, was forecast to receive 38% of the vote, putting it on course to finish first.
Despite the projected lead, the AfD is unlikely to enter government in the state because other parties refuse to work with it, according to the report.
In Berlin, ZDF’s exit poll put the CDU on 20%, behind Die Linke, or The Left, which was projected to win nearly 26%.
The elections followed another difficult result for the CDU two weeks earlier, when its vote share was halved in Saxony-Anhalt as the AfD secured a major victory there.
Pressure on Merz had increased before the latest votes, although the leaders of eight German states publicly backed him earlier in the week. Merz has been chancellor for 16 months.
Polling stations closed at 18:00 local time on Sunday, and final results were expected in the following hours.
Source: BBC News
