German state elections deal a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz

Two of Germany's 16 federal states, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , have just elected new state legislatures. The results for Chancellor Friedrich Merz 's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) represent yet another major blow in turbulent times both nationally and internationally.

In northeastern Germany, projections suggest that the CDU narrowly failed to clear the 5% threshold for representation in parliament, a historic first in the party's history.

In the German capital, the party that led the state government, lost nearly a third of its support, dropping to around 20%.

Just minutes after the first projections were released, Merz made a statement: "We can't sugarcoat the results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania — it was a disaster." As for the heavy losses in Berlin, he described the outcome there as "reasonable."

For the CDU, this marks the third electoral defeat in two weeks. In the state election in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, the party came in far behind the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified as partially far-right extremist.

In the wake of this debacle, Merz, whose term began in 2025, appeared visibly shaken.

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