Merz under pressure as CDU crashes out of German state parliament

Berlin,UPDATED: Sep 21, 2026 13:28 IST

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is facing fresh pressure after his party suffered two more election defeats, including being pushed out of a state legislature for the first time in the history of modern Germany's federal republic. Merz said he would stay on and continue with his reform plans for Germany, Europe's biggest economy, shortly after polls closed on Sunday.

The results in regional elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania added to the challenges before Merz after another setback earlier this month. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, his centre-right Christian Democratic Union fell below the 5 per cent threshold needed to keep seats in the regional parliament, while in Berlin the party slipped to second place behind the hard-left Left Party.

Merz acknowledged the scale of the setback, calling the result in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a "disaster". Final results showed that the CDU lost more than half its support there. It was the first time in 77 years of modern Germany's federal republic that the party failed to win representation in a state parliament.

In Berlin, the CDU fell behind the Left Party, which is now best placed to lead the next city government. However, depending on coalition negotiations, Merz's party could still remain in control of city hall.

Neither of the two states is among Germany's biggest political centres. The CDU's 2023 victory in Berlin was its only win in the capital in the past 25 years, and the party was already weak in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Even so, the nature of the defeat, especially in the Baltic Sea region, added to the pressure on Merz after the far-right Alternative for Germany defeated the CDU two weeks ago in Saxony-Anhalt, another state in the formerly communist east. That loss had already hurt his authority and led to speculation about whether he could be replaced.

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, emerged as the strongest party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. But the centre-left Social Democrats, the junior partner in Merz's national coalition government, finished fairly close behind after a campaign centred on state governor Manuela Schwesig as a barrier against the far-right party. That polarised contest squeezed other mainstream parties, including the CDU. A left-leaning three-party coalition under Schwesig would have a majority in the new regional legislature.

Schwesig and others in the governing parties have raised doubts about parts of the federal government's reform agenda, which is aimed at reviving Germany's long-sluggish economy. The plans include a potentially difficult overhaul of the pension system, a cut in bureaucracy and lower income tax for low- and middle-income families.

Matthias Miersch, head of the Social Democrats' group in the national parliament, said it was clear that "we need reforms". But he told ARD television that "we must also take people's concerns seriously".

Merz was due to hold more meetings with his party leadership on Monday. Much will depend on powerful regional leaders in the CDU. The party's eight state governors backed the chancellor last week, though doubts remained over how strong that support really was. There are no more elections this year, but five state polls are scheduled next year, three of them in April.

Those elections include North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, which is led by senior CDU figure Hendrik Wst, often mentioned as a possible successor to Merz. None of the five elections next year will be held in the east, where AfD is strongest.

Education Minister Karin Prien, who is also a deputy CDU leader, told Phoenix television: "I don't see that swapping out a leadership figure would really bring a change," and added that she does not see "another personnel offer" coming. She said, "So we must now discuss with one another - together with the chancellor as a government, and on the other hand as a party - how we win more acceptance and more credibility among the population." The latest results have left Merz under renewed pressure even as he insists he will press ahead with his reform agenda.

With PTI Inputs

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