Critical elections for Merz underway in two German states

Polling stations have opened in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where voters are electing members of the state parliaments, ZDF reports.

Voting began at 8 a.m. Berlin time and will continue until 6 p.m. The elections are being closely watched at the federal level following the CDU’s poor result in the previous election in Saxony-Anhalt, which has intensified pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

According to an ARD poll, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives are polling at around 20% in Berlin, trailing The Left, which stands at 21%. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ranks third with 18%, followed by the Greens at 16% and the Social Democrats at 12%.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, polls show a close race between the Social Democrats (SPD) and the AfD.

By Jeyhun Aghazada