Merz faces renewed far-right threat in eastern Germany
Friedrich Merz faces a potentially defining test in December, when lawmakers in Saxony-Anhalt vote for a state premier. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) hopes to install Ulrich Siegmund as Germany’s first far-right state leader since World War II, compounding the Christian Democrats’ recent election defeats in the east and threatening a major crisis for the chancellor’s weakened coalition.
National CDU figures fear regional conservatives could secretly support Siegmund after some were accused of backing the AfD candidate for state speaker in an earlier secret ballot. Saxony-Anhalt CDU leader Sven Schulze plans to have his lawmakers leave the chamber during the first two voting rounds, preventing defections or suspicions of them. What happens in a possible third round, when only a majority of votes cast would be required, remains unclear. Siegmund might also receive support from Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht, the populist-left party that shares the AfD’s Kremlin-friendly outlook.
The episode has exposed a deep dispute over how the CDU should handle the AfD. Critics call abstention an abdication of responsibility, while local CDU lawmakers describe it as a necessary tactic and reject excluding a legal, democratically elected party. Merz has insisted that anyone helping extremists into office has no place in the CDU, as he seeks to restore authority, support Ukraine and revive Germany’s economy amid historically low approval ratings.
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