Merz defiant after huge defeats in 2 state elections, says Germany’s ‘democratic future’ at stake

Germany’s embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed Monday to keep his ruling coalition together for the sake of the country’s “democratic future” after crushing defeats in two regional elections fuelled speculation about how long he will stay in his post.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) scored another win on Sunday, in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where Merz’s CDU sank to 4.9 percent, below the threshold to stay in parliament and its worst result since the party was formed in 1945.

The AfD’s top state candidate, Leif-Erik Holm, predicted earlier on Monday that “the chancellor certainly won’t make it to the end of the year. I think the twilight of the chancellor’s era has begun.”

But Merz, 70, made clear he has no intention of quitting as leader of Europe’s biggest economy, at the helm of a coalition with the center-left SPD.

“We are determined to live up to the historic responsibilities our country is facing,” said Merz. “It is about nothing less, and nothing more, than the democratic future of our country.”

Merz has faced growing pressure after the latest bruising results, which also saw the far-left Die Linke beat his center-right party in the city-state of Berlin, where the AfD also made strong gains.

The setbacks came with speculation already at fever pitch about Merz’s future after the AfD scored its biggest electoral triumph yet in a vote in Saxony-Anhalt state on September 6.

Merz, however, pushed back at criticism that his own low popularity ratings were behind the election defeats.

“The reasons for these election results go far beyond my own person,” he said. “We are witnessing a profound transformation of the political party system in Germany as well as in many other countries around the world.”

The AfD leads in German national opinion polls but has been kept from power by the other main parties’ refusal to work with it.

“Antisemitism is embedded” in parts of the AfD’s rhetoric, ideology, and political culture, according to the American Jewish Committee, which also says that “the AfD’s support for Israel is selective and does not necessarily reflect a rejection of antisemitism.” In a report last year, it also charged that some of the AfD’s most prominent politicians “have minimized Nazi crimes, promoted conspiracy theories, or used language associated with Germany’s far-right extremist tradition.”

Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in 2024 he feared the AfD “would deliberately act against Jewish life, if it fits into their concept,” and charged that the party offers antisemites a home.

Low approval ratings

Fighting speculation that his CDU/CSU bloc may try to oust him, Merz took the unusual step Sunday of addressing the nation on TV just minutes after the first exit polls were announced.

Merz admitted that his CDU had suffered a “disaster” but vowed to stay the course, push on with reforms and govern with “backbone, steadfastness and patience.”

The chancellor has also cleared his calendar for the following days and skipped a trip to New York for the UN General Assembly to deal with potential aftershocks from the votes.

When Merz took office in May last year, he vowed to reboot a flagging economy, rebuild the military to deter Russia and reduce irregular immigration to soothe voters’ fears and lure them away from the AfD.

But his personal approval ratings are hovering just above 10 percent, with reforms moving slowly and Europe’s biggest economy still struggling to get back on its feet.

Highlighting the economic woes, tens of thousands of auto workers staged protests nationwide Monday demanding more action to protect jobs, following waves of cuts at top carmakers like Volkswagen and their suppliers.

‘Things can’t go on’

Sunday’s election losses also looked set to cause more turbulence between the CDU and junior coalition partner the SPD.

While SPD leaders pledged to remain in the coalition, they hinted that they wanted to reopen talks on social and economic reforms, recently agreed on after months of often rancorous negotiations with the CDU.

“We stand by this coalition,” said Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, who is the SPD’s co-leader. But he added that “things can’t go on” as they had been. “We need open and honest debates, including within the government, about the course of reforms,” he added.

Merz has been fighting off rumors he may be ousted for weeks.

Names of hopefuls for the top job that have been floated include Hendrik Wuest, state premier of populous North Rhine-Westphalia, and Markus Soeder, the Bavarian state premier and head of the CSU, the regional sister party of the CDU.

However, no contender has made an open move for the job — perhaps fearing the act of disloyalty could backfire, or intimidated by the tough task of trying to revive the conservatives’ fortunes during one of their worst-ever crises.