Overview
- ARD exit polls on Sunday put the AfD first in Mecklenburg‑Western Pomerania with about 37% against the SPD’s roughly 35.5%, while in Berlin exit polls gave Die Linke about 24.5% and the CDU about 20%.
- The CDU was projected to fall to about 5.5% in Mecklenburg‑Western Pomerania, its worst regional result since World War II and a sharp collapse that party leaders described as a disaster.
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz cancelled a planned UN trip and convened CDU leaders after the regional results, and internal calls for a leadership rethink have grown in the wake of repeated AfD successes this month.
- Despite AfD pluralities, other parties look able to form coalitions that would block AfD governments in some states because mainstream parties continue to refuse formal partnerships with the AfD.
- Analysts say the pattern of eastern gains reflects long‑running economic and social grievances, plus AfD positions on migration and Russia, and that sustained pluralities could strain Germany’s informal firewall against the far right and complicate future coalition math.