Embattled German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to stay on despite exit polls in two local elections suggesting damaging defeats for his centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. In the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the party was projected to only just scrape into parliament, while the AfD was on track to win the most votes.
Local elections are taking place in two German states on Sunday which could increase the political pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Opinion polls in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommerm suggest Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is at risk of damaging defeats, which would raise further questions about the chancellor’s future. These latest elections come after the far-right