CDU suffers historic defeat with zero seats in Germany's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliamentary election

[Berlin Current Affairs] A parliamentary election was held on the 20th in the former East German state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania in northeastern Germany. The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Chancellor Merz, suffered a historic defeat, losing no seats at the state level for the first time since its founding in 1945. It is inevitable that the pressure to step down as Prime Minister will intensify, and Merz is in a difficult situation.

Meanwhile, the far-right opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has more than doubled its seats since the last election in 2021, securing its position as the largest party. The victory follows the parliamentary elections in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt earlier this month, in which the party came close to winning a majority, and once again demonstrated the strong dissatisfaction of former East German citizens with mainstream political parties.

Merz issued a statement after the vote closed, calling it a "disaster," but saying, "What we need now is fortitude and patience," and vowing to remain as prime minister and CDU leader. The party has not decided on a candidate to succeed the prime minister, and there is no decisive move to ``remove Mertz.''

In the election campaign, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), which leads the state government, created a one-on-one battle, calling the state premier Schwesig a "woman who stands up to blue (AfD's symbol color)". Although it lost to the AfD, it is expected to form a coalition with the Left Party and the Green Party, which won a minority of seats, and continue to govern the state. The CDU failed to reach the minimum vote share of 5% to win a seat. The AfD is refused cooperation by other parties.