Far-right AfD wins again as Germany's Merz slides

Germany's ruling center-right party, Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union, was shut out of a state parliament for the first time Sunday as the far-right Alternative for Germany scored its second victory this month. Why it matters: The result marks the third state election AfD has won — and its second this month — underscoring its growing strength even as Germany's other major parties refuse to govern with it. Driving the news: Merz, who has low approval ratings, told reporters that "reforms have to come." AfD won about 38% of the vote in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the CDU recorded its worst result in any German state election since World War II. The CDU fell from 13% to 4.9% and lost all representation. In Berlin's state election, the Left more than doubled its vote share to 25.7% and finished first for the first time. Flashback: AfD won its first state election in Thuringia in 2024, though other parties kept it out of government because they refused to enter into a coalition. Earlier this month, it won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt, but fell just three seats short of a majority. It is now seeking enough outside support to form Germany's first far-right state government since World War II. Vice President JD Vance met with AfD's co-leader days before last year's federal election and told the Munich Security Conference there was "no room for firewalls," referring to mainstream parties' refusal to govern with the AfD. The big picture: Germany's political firewall against AfD is rooted partly in the country's post-World War II consensus against returning the far-right to government and has been reinforced by intelligence concerns about extremism within the party. Germany's domestic intelligence service continues to monitor AfD nationally as a suspected extremist organization. A court in February blocked the agency from classifying the entire party as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization while a broader case proceeds. The anti-migration party calls for "remigration" — large-scale deportations and encouraging immigrants to leave. It also wants to abandon the euro, lift Russian sanctions and end weapons deliveries to Ukraine. What they're saying: AfD leader Alice Weidel called on Merz to "face the consequences" of the CDU's losses and said her party had displaced the CDU as Germany's "people's party." She wrote on X the CDU "will have to think very carefully about whether it can continue with this firewall policy, especially in eastern Germany" and called for the parties to sit down for talks. The bottom line: AfD's rise is reshaping politics in Europe's largest economy, putting growing pressure on Germany's governing center and the firewall that has kept the party out of power.

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