German voters have delivered a fresh setback to Chancellor Friedrich Merz in two key regional elections.
In Berlin, exit polls put the left-wing Die Linke ahead of Merz’s CDU. And in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the far-right AfD is projected to finish first, narrowly ahead of the Social Democrats.
For Merz, the results are a warning after just 16 months in office. The Chancellor himself called the CDU’s performance a “disaster”, but vowed to push ahead with his reform agenda.