German State Elections Test Merz as Far Right Surges in East

Two very different state elections and four million Germans on Sunday could decide the political fate of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his government. In Berlin, his Christian Democrats are fighting to hold on to the capital, while in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which locals lovingly call Meckpomm, they are fighting simply to stay in parliament.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Here in Schwerin, under the watchful eyes of two dozen police officers, an envoy of Germany’s pro-democracy establishment arrived on Saturday in a touring bus named “Adenauer SPR+” equipped with speakers and built to disrupt the far right. “What does that even stand for?” one protester asked her friend who, in turn, doesn’t have a convincing answer (mumbling something about Konrad Adenauer, Germany’s first post-war chancellor, rebuilding democracy). For some of those who travelled to Schwerin, no less is at stake now. A group brandished rainbow-coloured “racism is no alternative” flags. Others were more explicit. “F*ck AFD”, reads one in black-and-white. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania counts just 1.6 million residents and is Germany’s least densely populated state. But on Sunday, the rest of the country will be watching the 1.2 million voters here as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) could come first. Just two weeks ago, the AfD walked away with 43.8% of the vote and a record turnout in another East German state, Saxony-Anhalt. Other Topics of Interest AfD Leaders Plan Talks With Putin Envoy on Russian Gas AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla are preparing for talks with Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev to discuss resuming Russian gas supplies to Germany. This time, however, the far right has run into Manuela Schwesig. The 52-year-old, a self-styled Social Democratic terminator who has governed the state for almost a decade. Her face is omnipresent in Schwerin, the small state capital, with her SPD devotees handing out flyers and hot drinks to passersby. The polarised campaign has turned Schwesig into the main bulwark against the far right, squeezing almost everyone else – and finer policy details – out of the picture. Her rival, the AfD’s Leif-Erik Holm, 56, simply states on his banners that he is “ready”. Schwesig, meanwhile, has declared herself the “woman against blue” – Holm’s party colour. The two parties poll within arm’s reach of one another at around 36%, although Schwesig has gained ten percentage points in just a few weeks. Only one other party is guaranteed to leap the 5% hurdle to enter the state parliament: the far-left Die Linke. Others, like the anti-migration left-wing BSW and the Greens, remain on the brink, according to the latest polling. Even the Christian Democrats are not guaranteed to make the cut. Merz, already damaged and unpopular, has said he would “primarily” watch the Berlin election result. Berlin boomerang In Germany’s capital, the CDU still has a shot at the top spot. The latest polls see the party head-to-head with Die Linke at around 21% each. A left-wing majority is all but guaranteed – the Greens, SPD and Die Linke could together command a majority, potentially returning the city to a left-wing government. This time under Die Linke leadership. Yet Christian Evers, the CDU lead candidate, has caught up to the left in recent weeks and is seen as a serious contender for what Berliners call the “red city hall”, named for its iconic brick finish. The Christian Democrats have governed Berlin for three years after a surprise election victory fuelled by frustration with Green policies and broader anger over the state of the city – once beloved by artists and upper-middle-class residents alike. These days, however, Berlin is a story of disrepair and high rent. Die Linke hopes to sail into office by promising to expropriate large companies holding more than 3,000 flats. See the original by Nikolaus J. Kurmayer here. Euractiv is a European news website focused on EU policies. It was founded in 1999 by the French media publisher Christophe Leclercq. The website's headquarters and central editorial staff are located in Brussels, with offices in Paris and Berlin.