Far-right and far-left parties gain ground in local elections as Merz’s popularity declines.
Published on October 7, 2026
Chancellor Friedrich Merz denounced what he called political “extremism” in Germany after recent crushing defeats in local elections to far-right and far-left parties.
“This is a task for our society as a whole, and it is a task in which I intend to play my part,” he said at an event in Berlin on Wednesday.
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Merz said “extremism” was making its way forcefully into the country’s parliaments, a day after a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was elected speaker of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament and the left-wing party won state elections in Berlin last month.
“Anyone who votes for the AfD is playing into the hands of the extremists and undermining credibility,” Merz said. “In any case, this is incompatible with the values of my party, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany).”
Despite its victory in the September 6 elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD lost three seats before achieving the absolute majority it had sought. AfD lawmaker Tobias Rausch won the presidency of East Germany’s state parliament on Tuesday, backed by left-wing populists in a secret ballot.
Founded in 2013 as a eurosceptic movement, the AfD won over voters with increasingly harsh opposition to immigration after around a million people fled to Germany in 2015, many from war-torn Syria.
The party has since become a dominant political force in much of East Germany, particularly among voters disillusioned with mainstream parties, even though most mainstream parties have pledged not to form a coalition with the AfD.
Election in Berlin
Merz’s comments follow the far-left party’s victory in Berlin’s state elections on September 20, another defeat for the chancellor’s ruling Christian Democrats.
Lead candidate Elif Eralp campaigned on soaring housing prices in the German capital and immediately promised to follow through on her pledge to nationalize private housing associations that make up much of the city’s housing stock.
The result, which roughly doubles the party’s previous score, could allow her to become Berlin’s first mayor from the Left Party, which emerged from the former East German Communist Party after the country’s reunification 36 years ago.
Eralp, the 45-year-old daughter of left-wing Turkish parents who fled the 1980 coup, said the increasingly difficult rent situation was the capital’s biggest social problem.
She promised to nationalize housing associations that she said were driving property speculation, in line with a 2021 referendum in which 58% of voters backed a proposal to enact the move.
While the AfD has received the most attention, the Left Party has also benefited from a widespread turn against the main center-left and center-right parties.
During this time, Merz received record popularity ratings. Earlier this month, a survey by German public broadcaster ARD found that only one in ten respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with his performance, the lowest figure for a chancellor since the survey began in 1997.
Another major electoral test will come in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, where voters are due to elect a new parliament in April.
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