Merz warns far-right victory in German regional election will have 'consequences'

Friedrich Merz said he was “deeply shocked” after his Christian Democratic Union suffered a crushing defeat in Saxony-Anhalt, where the far-right Alternative for Germany won almost 44% of the vote. The CDU, which leads Germany’s federal governing coalition, took just 17%.

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This is the hardest electoral defeat that the party has suffered in recent years, in recent decades.

Speaking a day after the vote in the eastern state, Merz called it “the hardest electoral defeat that the party has suffered in recent years, in recent decades.” He added: “Obviously, this will have to have consequences.” The election gave the AfD a lead over the traditional parties and left it only slightly short of the number of seats needed to govern alone.

Sven Schulze, Saxony-Anhalt’s premier and the defeated CDU candidate, acknowledged that the AfD had won the right to try to build a governing majority. “We are the opposition, and the mandate to govern now belongs to the AfD,” he said alongside Merz.

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Obviously, this will have to have consequences.

Merz also accepted that his falling popularity had hurt the CDU, along with criticism that his government had been slow to implement reforms. “I know that I personally was a constant subject in this election campaign. We know that the reforms were also a constant subject in this election campaign,” he said. He promised to continue key changes in economic policy, pensions and health care, saying his determination had not changed.

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We are the opposition, and the mandate to govern now belongs to the AfD.

But Merz said the government needed to do more than justify reforms mathematically and economically. “We have to explain them better,” he said, describing the stakes as nothing less than Germany’s future and the opportunities available to its children and grandchildren.

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We have to explain them better.