Merz vows to keep coalition together for Germany's 'democratic future'
After resounding defeats for his party in two state elections, german Chancellor Friedrich Merz notes he will keep his ruling coalition together for the sake of his country's "democratic future".
After resounding defeats for his party in two state elections, german Chancellor Friedrich Merz notes he will keep his ruling coalition together for the sake of his country's "democratic future".
Article outline
- What happened
- The details
- Background
- The bottom line
Key points
- Asked earlier on Monday how long Merz has left in office, the AfD's co-leader Alice Weidel informed the BBC: "Pretty soon, he's going to leave."
- Speaking at the news conference on Monday, Merz described the result in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as "a heavy blow".
- Meanwhile in Berlin, the CDU came second to the hard-left Die Linke party, with the AfD additionally making significant gains.
- It is a dramatic, unprecedented result for the CDU in Germany, he remarked.
- "The reasons for these election results go far beyond my own person, " he insisted.
"We are determined to live up to the historic challenges our country is facing, " Merz remarked, referring to the coalition between his Christian Democratic Unionist (CDU) party and the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Merz's position has come under mounting pressure after Sunday's election results. In the north-eastern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won the most votes, with the CDU failing to reach the threshold to even enter the state parliament.
"This election is a profound turning point. It is a dramatic, unprecedented result for the CDU in Germany, " he remarked.
He nevertheless pushed back against the idea that his low popularity ratings were behind the election defeats.
Merz is under mounting pressure after months of poor approval ratings, and there have been rumours he could be replaced mid-term in a so-called chancellor swap.
In practice, the two local elections took place on Sunday, a fortnight after the CDU saw its vote halved in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD won a major victory.
For now, merz vows to keep coalition together for Germany' s ' democratic future' remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.
