German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed himself forcefully this Monday at the federal executive committee meeting of the CDU, according to information obtained by Bild. Merz expressed his dismay at the electoral result of AfD in Saxony-Anhalt and warned of an imminent "extreme right-wing government" and an "extreme right-wing minister-president" in the eastern state of Germany.
According to provisional results, AfD approached an absolute majority with 43.8% of the votes, while the CDU saw its result reduced by half compared to 2021, down to 17.2%. The regional president of the CDU and outgoing minister-president, Sven Schulze, acknowledged the defeat shortly after the polls closed.
Bild quotes Merz's exact words to the executive body: "We have a solid Constitution, we have all the tools to defend it against an extreme right-wing state government, but we are experiencing a deep upheaval in our party system."
The Chancellor went further: "This shakes our party to its core. We cannot simply return to normalcy, neither I nor the federal government."
Merz was self-critical before the committee: "We have not managed to emotionally connect with the people." According to Bild, the CDU leader pointed out a "lack of emotional support from the population" and added: "We cannot ignore it."
The Chancellor described the result as a "dramatic defeat" and a "transcendental turning point for the party."
Merz called for internal cohesion: "We will only be successful if we openly discuss the problems within the leadership." At the same time, he warned that "public statements against the party" harm the CDU.
Regarding AfD, Merz was clear: their goal is the "total destruction of the CDU," so there can be "no cooperation" with the party. The CDU, he emphasized, is based "on the foundations of Adenauer and Kohl."
Abstainers mobilized
Sven Schulze, lead candidate of the CDU and outgoing minister-president, summarized to the committee a campaign he described as "extremely tough" and expressed being "deeply disappointed": polls predicted better results for his party.
According to Schulze, AfD used "different mechanisms" in their campaign, with unprecedented brutality in the attacks, to which the electorate did not react against. The party also managed to mobilize a high number of former abstainers. "This hurts a lot, but we have to accept it," he concluded.
Following yesterday's result, the political crisis worsens around Merz and his coalition government with the SPD. The result reopens the debate in Berlin about the future of the "cordon sanitaire" against AfD and the stability of the federal CDU-SPD coalition.