Future of German chancellor hangs in the balance as two states go to polls
Embattled Friedrich Merz faces nervous wait while far-right Alternative für Deutschland party targets further gains Voters in two German states are going to the polls with the political future of the embattled chancellor, Friedrich Merz, hanging in the balance and an emboldened far right targeting further gains. Coming two weeks after a seismic election in Saxony-Anhalt in which the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) scored its highest ever result in a regional poll, the nativist party is expected to drain support again from Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Continue reading...
Embattled Friedrich Merz faces nervous wait while far-right Alternative für Deutschland party targets further gains
Voters in two German states are going to the polls with the political future of the embattled chancellor, Friedrich Merz, hanging in the balance and an emboldened far right targeting further gains.
Just how brutal the outcome is could affect Merz’s ability to hang on as leader after only 16 months in power, possibly setting wheels in motion for his replacement or even snap elections – currently regarded as unlikely but not ruled out.
About 2.5 million people are eligible to vote in the capital Berlin and nearly 1.3 million in the Baltic coast state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Polling booths open at 8am local time on Sunday and will close at 6pm, when Merz and his allies will be watching exit polls on tenterhooks.
The luckless chancellor has resisted calls to quit and vowed to fight for a signature package of economic and social welfare changes he argues are crucial to Germany’s future.