German regional elections: Chancellor Merz and his party suffer historic defeat

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, suffered a historic defeat in a regional election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. According to The National Business and The National UAE, the CDU won 4.9 per cent of the vote, just below the 5 per cent threshold required to be given a seat in the regional assembly parliament. This marks the first time since 1949 that the CDU has fallen below the threshold.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the contest with 38.2 per cent of the vote, while the Social Democrats came second with 35.5 per cent, as reported by The National Business and The National UAE. In another election, in Berlin, the governing CDU was defeated by the anti-capitalist Left party.

Chancellor Merz has insisted that he will remain in his position despite the losses, which raise questions about his leadership, according to The National Business and The National UAE. Merz described the result as a "disaster" and gathered senior CDU officials to gauge their support for his leadership.

Brief written by urgent.news from Le Monde English, The National Business, The National UAE, Euronews — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.