AfD gains deepen pressure on Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz
Exit polls projected strong results for the Alternative for Germany in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, while Merz’s conservatives suffered a sharp setback in the eastern state.
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was projected to lead in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 37 per cent, narrowly ahead of the Social Democrats on 35.5 per cent, according to exit polls reported by France 24.
The result would leave Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union on 5.5 per cent in the largely rural eastern state, barely clearing the threshold for representation and marking its worst result there since the Second World War.
The AfD was also projected to take 16 per cent in Berlin. The Left party led the capital’s poll on 24.5 per cent, while the CDU was projected to finish second on 20 per cent.
The projections intensified pressure on Merz, whose authority had already been weakened by the AfD’s strong performance in Saxony-Anhalt two weeks earlier. The party reportedly came close to a majority in that election, prompting calls within Merz’s party for leadership discussions.
Other major parties have ruled out working with the AfD, making it unlikely to form a government in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania if those positions hold. The exit-poll figures are not final results and do not provide official seat allocations.
