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BERLIN: Germany\u2019s embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to stay the course on Sunday despite stinging election defeats in two states at the hands of the far-right AfD and the far-left Die Linke party.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat needs to be done now requires backbone, steadfastness and patience,\u201d Merz said at a Berlin crisis meeting of his center-right CDU. \u201cI will demonstrate this as CDU party chairman and, above all, as chancellor of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The AfD had a narrow lead of about 37 percent in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania against 35 percent for the center-left SPD, according to exit polls by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.<\/p>\n
Merz\u2019s CDU crashed below five percent in the ex-communist eastern German state, meaning it got kicked out of parliament \u2014 its worst result ever and an outcome Merz admitted was a \u201cdisaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Berlin, the far-left Die Linke party with about 25 percent easily defeated the ruling CDU, which scored 19 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our city, love and justice have triumphed over hatred,\u201d said Die Linke\u2019s lead candidate Elif Eralp, the daughter of Turkish migrants, celebrating her party\u2019s triumph over the anti-immigration AfD.<\/p>\n
Merz \u2014 who had called the crisis meeting in anticipation of a poor result \u2014 quickly stepped before the cameras and vowed to stay the course, following recent speculation he may soon be ousted by his party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reforms have to come,\u201d 70-year-old Merz said. \u201cI am taking on this responsibility because I want to move our country forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merz acknowledged that \u201ctrust in our country\u2019s institutions is waning\u201d and said it was being \u201cactively undermined by radical parties on both the left and the right.\u201d<\/p>\n
ING economist Carsten Brzeski said of Merz\u2019s rushed TV address: \u201cRead the appearance for what it was, an attempt to choke off the speculation about his possible resignation that has been building in recent weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The AfD\u2019s jubilant national co-leader Alice Weidel said: \u201cWe are the strongest force and have reached the mainstream of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poor approval ratings<\/strong><\/p>\n Merz \u2014 with record low personal approval ratings after 16 months in office \u2014 has been fighting off rumors he may be ousted by his center-right CDU\/CSU bloc.<\/p>\n With Sunday\u2019s elections looming, the chancellor has also cleared his calendar for this week, skipping a trip to the UN General Assembly to deal with potential aftershocks from the votes.<\/p>\n The latest elections came two weeks after the far-right, pro-Trump and Moscow-friendly AfD dealt a stunning defeat to the CDU in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.<\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s Berlin election was a historic first for Die Linke, which promises drastic steps to solve a housing crisis in the German capital, including expropriating flats held by large corporate landlords.<\/p>\n A CDU defeat there is another blow for Merz \u2014 especially at the hands of the party\u2019s nemesis Die Linke, which opposes big business, rejects military aid for Ukraine and wants Germany to exit NATO.<\/p>\n Berlin voter Moritz Lembke-Oezer, 43, told AFP he was voting for Die Linke and that he hoped \u201cthe CDU will be punished\u201d and that \u201cmaybe then Friedrich Merz will be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Call for \u2018stability\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n When Merz took office in May last year, he vowed to reboot a flagging economy, rebuild the military to deter Russia, and reduce irregular immigration to soothe voters\u2019 fears and lure them away from the AfD.<\/p>\n But the AfD now leads nationwide polls and Merz\u2019s personal approval ratings hover just above 10 percent, not helped by his occasionally blunt and abrasive comments.<\/p>\n The string of election debacles come as Merz has struggled to push through promised economic and social welfare reforms with his center-left coalition partners the SPD.<\/p>\n Under-fire Merz received some badly needed support from CDU powerbrokers on Wednesday when eight state premiers declared jointly that Germany needs \u201cstability now more than ever\u201d rather than \u201cdiscussions about personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n They refrained, however, from issuing a personal endorsement of Merz.<\/p>\n ING economist Brzeski said Sunday\u2019s elections were \u201canother reminder of an increasingly fragmented political landscape: a win for a right-wing populist party in one state, a win for a left-wing populist party in the other.<\/p>\n \u201cYears of economic stagnation helped produce that fragmentation. Now the fragmentation will make the stagnation harder to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n