'Most severe election defeat': German Chancellor Merz shocked after CDU's worst lost in decades, warns of 'consequence'
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'Most severe election defeat': German Chancellor Merz shocked after CDU's worst lost in decades, warns of 'consequence'")
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, at the start of the CDU's leadership meeting in Berlin today. Photograph: (AFP)
The ruling coalition of Germany, the CDU, has secured just 17 per cent of the vote, compared with almost 44 per cent for the anti-immigration and Russia-friendly AfD.
After the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a massive setback in Saxony-Anhalt, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday (September 7) considered it the “most severe election defeat” in years or decades. Merz said, "We are all deeply shocked. We did not expect it to turn out this way." He added that the election result will have significant repercussions.
Pointing to the international attention surrounding the outcome, Merz also said appreciation for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) indicates “the level of international attention this result has garnered.” The ruling coalition of Germany, the CDU, has secured just 17 per cent of the vote, compared with almost 44 per cent for the anti-immigration and Russia-friendly AfD.
CDU's most severe election defeat
Over the inevitable outcome of the election, Merz said, “when nearly 60% of voters … cast their ballots for political parties that fundamentally call into question our country’s democratic institutions … it is an election result we cannot simply move past as if nothing happened.” He conceded that this was “the most severe election defeat the CDU has suffered in years, indeed in decades.”
Sven Schulze, the CDU's defeated candidate for premier in Saxony-Anhalt, admitted that the AfD had earned the right to try forming a governing majority, even though it fell just short of the seats needed to govern on its own. “We are the opposition -– the mandate to govern now lies with the AfD,” Schulze said alongside Merz.
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Merz also conceded that his own weak approval ratings, along with criticism that his government had been slow to roll out reforms, had played a part in the CDU's poor showing. “I know that I personally was a constant topic in this election campaign. We know that the reforms were a constant topic in this election campaign,” AFP quoted him as saying. “We must try - I myself included - to reach people more effectively, including in the full range of their emotions,” he added.
Despite this setback, the 70-year-old chancellor pledged to press ahead with his government's policy overhaul in areas such as the economy, pensions and healthcare, saying his resolve to continue on the reform path remained unshaken. “But I know that we must do more than just justify these reforms, mathematically, economically. We have to explain them better,” he said. “This is about nothing more and nothing less than the future of our country, and the opportunities of our children and grandchildren,” Merz further added.
