Far-right AfD party leads Germany state election, as Merz party suffers major defeat

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faced significant challenges on Monday after his party suffered two more electoral defeats, leading to the party's expulsion from a state legislature for the first time in its eight-decade history. Merz vowed to persevere and implement reforms in Germany, the country's largest economy, shortly after the polls closed on Sunday in regional elections held in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a largely rural eastern region along the Baltic Sea coast.

However, the final results highlighted the severity of the defeat in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) fell below the 5% threshold required to retain its parliamentary seats for the first time in 77 years since Germany's federal republic was established. The CDU also slipped to second place in Berlin, trailing the hard-left Left Party, which is now positioned to potentially lead the next city government.

Although Merz's party might maintain a presence in city hall following coalition negotiations, the extent of the CDU's losses in both elections raises concerns about its political future under Merz's leadership.