Two German states go to the polls after far-right gains 

Voters in two German states will go to the polls on Sunday, as far-right and far-left gains threaten to affect the political standing of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Merz, according to a report by the AFP news agency, has scheduled a crisis meeting of his Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), skipped this week’s UN General Assembly meeting in New York, and cleared his calendar to deal with potential aftershocks from the votes in Berlin and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Pressure on Merz has been mounting after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) delivered a major defeat to his CDU party two weeks ago in the key state of Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD fell just short of an absolute majority, which would have allowed it to govern on its own.

And after just 16 months in power, Merz’s approval ratings have plunged to about 14 percent, the latest polls suggest, as he struggles to push through promised economic and social welfare reforms with his centre-left coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), raising doubts among fellow party members whether he can continue to lead.

About 2.5 million people are eligible to vote in the capital, Berlin, and nearly 1.3 million in the northeastern coastal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Polling booths open at 8am local time and will close at 6pm.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Merz’s party is an onlooker to the main battle between the SPD’s popular state premier Manuela Schwesig and the AfD’s lead candidate, former radio presenter Leif-Erik Holm.

While the AfD was polling at 36 percent against the SPD’s 37 percent, Merz’s CDU, at just 6 percent, was dangerously close to the 5 percent hurdle needed to stay in the state parliament, according to public broadcaster ZDF.

In the city-state of Berlin, the ruling CDU is running a tight race against the far-left Die Linke (The Left), which promises drastic measures to solve a dire housing crisis and is popular with young people.

A CDU defeat there would be another blow for Merz, especially at the hands of Die Linke, which wants to curb corporate power and leans towards Moscow.

Regional elections would not usually draw much interest outside Germany, but the AfD’s success in Saxony-Anhalt, which it sees as the first step towards winning federal elections due in 2029, has sent shockwaves through Europe.