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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Deborah Cole in Berlin

Future of German chancellor hangs in the balance as two states go to polls

Friedrich Merz AFD CDU Alternative für Deutschland Berlin Germany SaxonyAnhalt
Merz with arms outstretched at lectern with CDU logo on it
Friedrich Merz speaks on Thursday during the final CDU election rally prior to elections in Berlin. Photograph: Clemens Bilan/EPA

Voters in two German states are going to the polls with the political future of the embattled chancellor, Friedrich Merz, hanging in the balance and an emboldened far right targeting further gains.

Coming two weeks after a seismic election in Saxony-Anhalt in which the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) scored its highest ever result in a regional poll, the nativist party is expected to drain support again from Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

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