Merz on AfD victory: “I and the government cannot simply carry on as before”

Friedrich Merz said the AfD’s decisive victory in Saxony-Anhalt had shaken the CDU “to its foundations,” and warned that neither he nor his government could continue as before.

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to its foundations

The AfD won 43.8% in Sunday’s state election but fell short of an absolute majority. The CDU, which had governed the state, dropped to 17.2% in the preliminary final result. The SPD, Left, Greens and BSW also entered the state parliament.

The result put further pressure on Merz, who has already faced criticism over poor polling for his party. He called a crisis meeting on Monday and said the election exposed a “tectonic shock” to Germany’s party system. Germany had a strong constitution and the tools to defend it against a far-right state government, he said, but the result required a full reassessment. “We cannot simply carry on as before, neither I nor the federal government,” Merz said.

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We cannot simply carry on as before, neither I nor the federal government.

Merz identified one immediate weakness: the CDU had failed to establish an emotional connection with voters and lacked their emotional support. “We cannot ignore that,” he said. He also pointed to the difficult political environment, including congratulations sent to the AfD from Russia and the United States.

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We cannot ignore that.

The chancellor said the party could recover only through open discussion among its leadership, but insisted that the CDU must remain united. Public statements directed against the party, he said, ultimately harmed the CDU and helped the AfD, whose goal he described as the “complete destruction of the CDU.” He ruled out cooperation with the AfD and said he would defend the CDU’s tradition rooted in Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl. Merz later called the result the CDU and CSU’s worst election defeat in decades.

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complete destruction of the CDU