AfD co-chair urges Merz to ‘draw conclusions’ after crushing election defeat

BERLIN, September 20. /TASS/. Alice Weidel, co-chair of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has called on Chancellor Friedrich Merz to face the consequences of the Christian Democratic Union's (CDU) failure in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election and abandon the political "firewall" barring cooperation with the right wing.

Speaking on the ZDF television channel, Weidel attributed the CDU's poor performance directly to its refusal to cooperate with her party. "Friedrich Merz must draw conclusions. He needs to do this for his party and for Germany," Weidel stated, adding that the AfD’s long-term strategy aims at coalition negotiations with the Christian Democrats. The politician also argued that the "firewall" policy handed The Left Party its victory in the concurrent Berlin state elections.

On September 20, Germany held elections for the Berlin House of Representatives and the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The AfD leads the latter with approximately 37% of the vote, followed by the Social Democrats at around 35.5%, and The Left Party at about 7.5%. The CDU secured just 5.5% - marking the conservatives' worst-ever result in a state election. The Greens also received 5.5%, while the BSW party, at 5%, teeters on the threshold required to enter the state parliament.

Following a previous failure in Saxony-Anhalt, Merz's party has suffered its second crushing defeat in state elections this month alone. While the chancellor described the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern result as a disaster, he insisted he would remain CDU chairman and chancellor.

However, the blow has severely eroded his authority, leaving his political future in doubt, according to experts. A recent poll by the Forsa institute shows that only 10% of Germans approve of the chancellor's performance, while nearly half expect his resignation this year.

For the AfD, the victory in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern marks its third state election win, following previous successes in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt.