CDU Premiers Back Merz After AfD Win in Saxony-Anhalt
Eight state premiers from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) publicly backed Chancellor Friedrich Merz on 16 September, in a joint effort to end talk that he would step down early. Reuters
The signatories lead Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia. They said restoring trust in the party lay in "listening and taking political action, not in debates over personnel". Markus Söder, premier of Bavaria and leader of the CDU's sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), also stood by Merz. BBC
The show of unity followed a heavy defeat in Saxony-Anhalt in early September. There, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 43.8% of the vote against 17.2% for the CDU. The AfD finished three seats short of an outright majority in the Landtag, the state parliament. Merz, who had held the chancellery for 16 months, stuck with unpopular reforms after the far-right party's win. AP
The result added to scrutiny of Merz. A recent Bild poll found just 14% thought Merz was right for the job as chancellor. Merz answered with sharper attacks on the AfD. He called it a "destructive force" and said its migration policy amounted to an "ethnic cleansing" of skilled workers. The AfD called those claims "baseless" and "disgusting" and said it was filing a defamation complaint against Merz.
Attention now turns to elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania on Sunday. In Berlin, polls show the CDU and Die Linke vying for first place, with the AfD and Greens not far behind. In Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, polls put the AfD ahead of the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) but likely well short of an outright majority.
No one within the CDU has publicly said they are willing to challenge Merz. Still, Söder, North Rhine-Westphalia premier Hendrik Wüst and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt have been mentioned as potential successors.
The broader context here is coalition arithmetic as much as leadership politics. A party that falls three seats short of a majority still needs partners to govern. The fragmentation seen in Berlin polling points to long coalition talks rather than clear mandates. For CDU groups in the states, the question is whether losses can be held low enough to stay in state governments.
Looking at what this means for Berlin, the premiers' letter acts as a firewall. By locking in support from eight powerful state leaders before the Sunday votes, it raises the cost of any move against Merz and narrows room to read poor results as a verdict on the chancellery itself. The risk for Merz runs in the other direction. If Berlin and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania confirm the Saxony-Anhalt pattern, critics will argue that discipline from above cannot replace winning back voters, and the same names now listed as loyalists will reappear in succession talk.
