Crisis figures for Merz ahead of new state elections

Martin Yngve/TT

 

Published 06.41

 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday. Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP/TT

Friedrich Merz is losing a record number of voters to the far right. To boost support, he is promising to lower petrol prices—but the question remains whether that will be enough to secure the Chancellor's position.

Two state elections this Sunday could bring matters to a head.

"The Union is bracing for the worst."

In six words, this headline in *Süddeutsche Zeitung* sums up the deepening crisis facing Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU.

Several opinion polls published this week show the two Union parties garnering only 18–20 percent—figures described by the news agency DPA as historically low and only a few percentage points ahead of the Greens. Meanwhile, the far-right AfD is polling at 29 percent nationally.

These figures come just days before state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Moving forward against the headwinds

In the capital—which is also a federal state in its own right—the CDU risks losing power to the Left Party (*Die Linke*), which in the last election was less than half the size of the CDU. And just two weeks after its election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD could achieve its next major success in "Meck-Pomm" on the Baltic coast.

According to the latest figures, the AfD looks set to reach 37 percent there—while the CDU is polling at a meager 7 percent, reports *Berliner Zeitung*. In the 2021 election, the gap between the parties was 3.4 percentage points. Just as he did after the Saxony-Anhalt election—when a shocked Merz vowed to press ahead with his coalition’s reforms—he is treating offense as the best form of defense.

"The bitter election defeat on September 6 changes none of that," he told business leaders in Berlin on Tuesday.

Lowering petrol prices

In an effort to boost support, the Chancellor announced measures to lower petrol prices, which are currently at record highs. Merz could not say exactly how or by how much they might be reduced.

"You can expect a proposal very soon."

"We must act now. We must implement reforms to future-proof our country. I, for one, will not back down from that," he said, according to *FAZ*.

While his words concerned petrol prices and the business sector, they could just as easily have been a distress signal to his fellow party members.

According to German media, he has summoned the CDU leadership to an extraordinary meeting this Sunday to ensure he retains support as leader following the state elections.

And to further underscore the gravity of the situation, DPA reports that he has decided to skip next week’s UN General Assembly in New York, as he is "needed in Berlin."