The leaders of eight German states have backed the nation’s chancellor amid growing speculation about his political future.
The eight state premiers, all members of Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said that rebuilding trust in the party required listening and taking political action rather than debating personnel changes.
Merz, who has been chancellor for just sixteen months, is confronting low approval ratings as the far‑right, anti‑immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) gains momentum, raising doubts about his electoral viability.
He has pledged to continue, though two additional state elections scheduled for Sunday are being viewed as a crucial test of his leadership.
Speculation about a “Kanzlertausch” (chancellor swap) has persisted for months, but intensified after the CDU fell to a distant second behind the AfD in Saxony‑Anhalt at the start of September.
The AfD captured 43.8 % of the vote, while the CDU was reduced to 17.2 %, the first time since World War II that a far‑right party has come close to securing control of a German state.
The party still falls three seats short of an outright majority, and the mainstream parties have ruled out any coalition with the AfD, though the far‑right could attempt to form a minority government.
In response to the defeat, Merz lashed out, labeling the AfD—a party that seeks closer ties with Russia—as a “destructive force” whose migration policies amounted to an “ethnic cleansing” of skilled workers.
The AfD countered by filing a defamation complaint against the chancellor, denouncing his comments as “baseless” and “disgusting.”
His abrasive communication style and low personal popularity—only 14 % of respondents in a recent Bild poll believe he is right for the job—have raised concerns about his suitability to lead both Germany and the CDU.
The eight CDU state premiers, however, declared that “now more than ever, Germany’s political landscape needs stability.”
Our nation will continue to require a stable and effective federal government with its own majority in the Bundestag, the leaders of Schleswig‑Holstein, Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland‑Palatinate, Saxony‑Anhalt, Thuringia, Berlin and North Rhine‑Westphalia said.
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