Polls show Merz's party squeezed from far right and left

BERLIN

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (AFP Photo)

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's center-right Christian Democrats are under mounting pressure from both the far right and radical left ahead of upcoming regional elections, according to new polls published on Sept. 11.

The two elections on Sept. 20 come on the heels of a debacle for Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU) in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) romped to victory with 44 percent of the vote, the highest figure for a nationalist party since 1945.

In the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Merz's CDU slumped to just 7 percent in a new poll from public broadcaster ZDF.

That would be the party's worst-ever showing in a regional election anywhere in the country, and raises the prospect that the CDU might even fall beneath the 5 percent threshold required to take seats in a state parliament.

The poll put the AfD ahead with 37 percent, trailed closely by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), which currently governs the state, with 34 percent.

The SPD, which nationally is Merz's junior coalition partner, has faced a series of bruising electoral setbacks in the past two years and is hoping to hold onto one of its historic strongholds in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The poll put the far-left Die Linke, which is currently the SPD's junior coalition partner in the state, in third at 10 percent.

If this poll is borne out at the ballot box, a three-way coalition between the SPD, Die Linke and the Greens would be the likely outcome, as the AfD lacks potential allies.

Almost every other political party in the country refuses to cooperate with the AfD in any way, with the far-right party seen as taboo over accusations of racism and ties to neo-Nazis.