Germans began voting Sunday in two state elections where far-right and far-left gains could send new shock waves to Berlin and rock the government of embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

🇳🇬 Here's What Happened

Merz, 70, has scheduled a crisis meeting of his centre-right CDU party leadership to discuss the first results as they come in from the regional polls in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The chancellor, in power for 16 months, has also cleared his calendar for the following days and skipped a trip to the UN General Assembly to deal with potential aftershocks from the votes.

The far-right, pro-Trump and Moscow-friendly Alternative for Germany (AfD) dealt a stunning defeat to his CDU two weeks ago in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, fuelling speculation that internal party support for Merz is wobbling.

📌 Key Details

The election debacle came as Merz’s approval ratings have nose-dived and he has struggled to push through promised economic and social welfare reforms with his centre-left coalition partners the SPD.

The AfD will make fresh gains Sunday, polls suggest, although it is unlikely to come within reach of power in either state — unlike in Saxony-Anhalt where it fell just a few seats short of an absolute majority.

Polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) with voting set to last until 6:00 pm.

Under-fire Merz received some badly needed support from CDU powerbrokers on Wednesday. Eight state premiers declared jointly that Germany needs “stability now more than ever” rather than “discussions about personnel”.

They refrained from issuing a personal endorsement for Merz, however.

In Sunday’s vote, the CDU faces different challenges unique to those regions.

📰 Source: Punch Nigeria