Eight CDU Premiers Back Merz as AfD's 43.8% Surge Fuels Leadership Doubts
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Sep 16
Eight CDU Premiers Back Merz as AfD's 43.8% Surge Fuels Leadership Doubts
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Sep 16
Summary
Eight CDU state premiers publicly backed Chancellor Friedrich Merz, urging the party to restore trust through action rather than personnel debates as questions over his future intensify.
43.8% for the AfD against 17.2% for the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt sharpened that pressure, reviving "chancellor swap" talk after the conservatives fell to a distant second.
14% of voters say Merz is right for the job in a recent Bild poll, and his abrasive style has added to doubts even as he vows to stay on.
Sunday's elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania are now the next test, with CDU officials set to coordinate their response as polls point to further AfD gains and possible CDU losses.
Germany rarely replaces leaders mid-term, and with no CDU rival openly challenging him, Merz still retains public backing from party heavyweights including Bavaria's Markus Söder.
With the AfD surging and his approval crashing, can Friedrich Merz survive the looming electoral disasters, or is a chancellor swap inevitable?
As the far-right edges closer to absolute majorities, will the conservative firewall collapse under the weight of eastern Germany's political rebellion?