BERLIN—Germany’s embattled leader faces an uphill battle to save his government after a historic far-right victory on Sunday that could reshape the country’s political system.
Will the AfD run its first government?
He pledged to deliver on a package of measures aimed at boosting Germany’s struggling economy, and he said his government would be unwavering in its support for Ukraine. So far, no party has said it would accept the offer and these negotiations could take weeks. Lars Klingbeil, the SPD vice chancellor and finance minister, said Monday that the vote was “a signal that we need to think about our policies here in Berlin and about the government’s planned reforms.
But he signaled he would stay the course on some of his signature policies. The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has criticized Germany’s support for Kyiv and favors stronger ties with Moscow. Despite its victory, the AfD came just short of a majority of seats that would have allowed it to form a state government. As long as no new government is sworn into office, the departing CDU state premier would continue to govern in a caretaker capacity. The SPD is pushing back. Merz could give CDU politicians at the state level latitude to vote with the AfD on specific bills while barring them from formally joining an AfD government. An internal party ban on working with the postcommunist Left Party could also be lifted for balance.
Its leaders said on Monday they would approach other parties and individual state lawmakers to persuade them to back an AfD-led government. The first—which Merz sketched out on Monday—is to forge ahead with his government and persuade the partners in his coalition government, the Social Democrats, or SPD, to stick to a planned overhaul of the cash-strapped welfare system.
Why is a vote in a small German state threatening Merz?
More than 80% of voters—and almost 60% of CDU voters—are unhappy with Merz’s work, according to an Infratest dimap poll released last week. His government is one of the least popular in German post-World War II history. Impatience with Merz is now turning to panic and spreading among the CDU grassroots and elected officials, who are in turn pushing him to shift the government’s political course. A minority also wants him to lift an internal party ban on cooperating with the AfD at the state level.
