Merz’s conservatives set to crash out of German state parliament

Manuela Schwesig arrives for a debate in the ARD studios following the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Elections in Schwerin, Germany, on Sunday. | BLOOMBERG

Bloomberg

Sep 21, 2026

Friedrich Merz said he would stay put as German chancellor even after his party suffered its worst-ever result in a state election, with a projection showing the conservatives poised to be expelled from a regional assembly for the first time in the country’s post-World War II history.

The Christian Democratic Union won 4.9% of the vote in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday, according to a projection from broadcaster ARD, just missing a 5% threshold required to enter parliament. The far-right Alternative for Germany won the contest with 38.3%.

In an election in Berlin, the governing CDU was defeated by the anti-capitalist Left party.

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