Overview
- Nationally, a YouGov poll has CDU/CSU and AfD level at 25 percent, while Bavaria’s BayernTrend shows the AfD at a record 19 percent, the CSU at 39 and the Free Voters down to 9.
- In Brandenburg, an INSA survey finds 68 percent favor new elections after the coalition collapse, with the AfD at 34 percent and a planned SPD–CDU tie-up viewed negatively by a majority.
- The CDU in Saxony-Anhalt plans to hand power from Rainer Haseloff to Sven Schulze by late January so Schulze can run as incumbent in September’s vote to counter AfD momentum.
- Bavarian premier Markus Söder is urging larger federal states, a proposal rejected by Schleswig-Holstein’s Daniel Günther as unnecessary structural debate.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz told business leaders he would probably scrap the Working Hours Act and pressed for longer work hours, drawing SPD criticism that the law safeguards worker health.