Media: Merz’s party suffers worst-ever result in German regional elections

Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has recorded its worst result in history in a German state election and, for the first time since 1946, will not enter one of the country’s state parliaments, ASTRA reports.

State parliament elections were held on September 20 in two German federal states, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. According to official preliminary results, the Left Party leads in Berlin with 24% of the vote, while the CDU placed second with 20.3%.

The CDU will not enter the new state parliament in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leads in the northeastern state with 32%, followed by the Social Democrats with 29%, while the governing CDU failed to clear the five-percent threshold.

According to Deutsche Welle, this is the CDU’s worst result in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, as the Christian Democrats had never failed to enter a state parliament through an election since 1946.

“There is no way to sugarcoat the result in Mecklenburg. This is a disaster,” Friedrich Merz told journalists following the first exit polls on the evening of September 20.

Merz also said he had no intention of stepping down as federal chancellor or party chairman and would continue pursuing his reform agenda. The chancellor described the reforms as “a remedy against the poison of authoritarianism, which is penetrating deeper into our society along with admiration for authoritarian ideas.” Among the measures outlined by Merz are cuts to social spending and a reduction in the tax burden on businesses. As Deutsche Welle notes, Germany’s economy has failed to grow for a third consecutive year, its pension system is struggling to keep pace with demographic changes, and a gap of around €172 billion has emerged in the federal budget for 2027–2029.

Earlier, the AfD secured a clear victory in the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. The far-right party, which calls for closer ties with Moscow, received nearly twice as many votes as the governing CDU bloc.

By Jeyhun Aghazada