"Yesterday's result has changed not only Saxony-Anhalt, but Germany as a whole," the downtempo chancellor told reporters in Berlin on Monday afternoon as he attempted to pick up the pieces of a disastrous election in the country’s east. "There will have to be consequences," he said.
As a reminder: The far-right, anti-migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 43.8% of Sunday’s regional vote, which is more than double its showing five years ago. That was far ahead of Merz’s party, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), which polled 17.2% — losing about half its support — and winning 15 seats. The rest of the seats were divided between the centre-left Social Democrats, Greens, the Left Party and BSW.
