Germany exit polls show CDU heavy losses
Linke leads Berlin while AfD gains in two states, Merz cancels UN trip but vows to stay
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Breaking news. - Merz’s party suffering heavy losses in 2 German state, exit polls
euronews.com
Germany’s CDU slumps in two state elections, exit polls show Linke leading in Berlin and AfD gaining again, Merz cancels UN trip but refuses to quit
Exit polls published on Sunday show Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffering heavy losses in two German state elections, according to Euronews citing ARD. In Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, the CDU is projected to win 5.5% of the vote, a result that would be the party’s worst in the state since World War II. In Berlin, the CDU is projected to come second on 20%, with the Left party leading on 24.5%.
The numbers land two weeks after the Alternative for Germany (AfD) narrowly missed a majority in Saxony-Anhalt, a result that Euronews describes as giving the party its best chance yet of forming Germany’s first far-right regional government since World War II. Sunday’s exit polls suggest that momentum has not faded: AfD made “significant gains” in both Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania and Berlin. The immediate consequence is pressure on the federal government from inside Merz’s own party, where calls to replace him have surfaced since the Saxony-Anhalt vote, even as no top-level allies have publicly demanded his departure.
Merz came to power 16 months ago promising to lift an economy that had barely grown in years. Euronews reports that he has failed to improve the national mood and has become deeply unpopular, a political problem that state elections can quantify even when they do not directly change the federal coalition. When mainstream parties sink into single digits in parts of the east while protest parties consolidate, governing becomes less about winning new voters than about deciding which voters to disappoint least.
Merz’s response has been to signal continuity rather than reset. Anticipating a difficult post-election period, he cancelled a planned trip to New York for the UN General Assembly, and after the exit polls were released he said he would remain CDU leader and chancellor until the end of his term. The next phase will be decided not by television graphics but by coalition arithmetic and party discipline, as Berlin’s local result and eastern state swings feed into a national debate about whether Merz can still carry the CDU into the next federal contest.
In Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, the exit poll puts the chancellor’s party at 5.5%. Merz is still saying he will serve out his term.