CDU Calls Special Meeting as Merz Faces Pressure Before State Votes

Germany's governing conservatives have scheduled a special meeting for Sunday, bringing senior party figures together to address recent electoral losses and close ranks behind Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to a party source.

Merz has come under mounting criticism within his own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) after the party's weak showing this month in Saxony-Anhalt, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came close to winning an outright majority in a state election.

Falling Support

Nationally, the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, are polling between 18% and 20% — well below their result in last year's federal election and trailing the AfD. Confidence in Merz has also slipped inside his own ranks. A weekend INSA poll found that most CDU supporters no longer see him as the right person for the job, while 78% of the wider public agreed.

Sunday's meeting is intended to coordinate the party's response to two more state votes that day, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, set a direction amid record-low support, and project unity behind Merz's leadership.

Weekend Votes in Focus

After the Saxony-Anhalt result, some CDU critics have cautioned that another poor showing this weekend could increase the pressure on Merz. The party is currently polling at 7% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and at 20% in Berlin, where it is tied with the Left Party for the highest support.

Merz has resisted efforts to link his political future to individual state election outcomes, arguing that Germany needs stability to advance an ambitious reform agenda and to handle major European challenges, including hybrid warfare and support for Ukraine. He has also warned that the party has no clear successor or obvious alternative course.