Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed on Monday to keep his ruling coalition intact for the sake of Germany’s “democratic future,” following crushing defeats in two regional elections that have fuelled speculation about his political future.
“We are determined to live up to the historic responsibilities our country is facing,” Merz said regarding the coalition between his centre-right CDU and the centre-left SPD.
“It is about nothing less, and nothing more, than the democratic future of our country.”
The SPD also pledged to remain in the coalition despite the centre-right party suffering heavy losses in Sunday’s votes, while signalling it would push for changes to planned reforms.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came first in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the CDU crashed out of the local parliament after its worst ever election result since the party’s founding in 1945.
Merz described the result as a “heavy blow,” adding: “This election is a profound turning point. It is a dramatic, unprecedented result for the CDU in Germany.”
Merz is in a very, very fragile situation.
In the other vote, in the city-state of Berlin, the CDU was pushed into second place by the hard-left Die Linke party while the AfD also made strong gains.
Despite calls for him to resign after just 16 months in office, Merz repeated that he would remain in office and seek to push through hard-fought economic and social welfare reforms.
“But we know that we owe people answers to their worries, to their fears,” he said, pushing back at criticism that his own low popularity ratings were behind the election defeats.
“The reasons for these election results go far beyond my own person,” he said.
“We are witnessing a profound transformation of the political party system in Germany as well as in many other countries around the world.”
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
