A member of Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has broken rank to call for the chancellor’s resignation.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz doubled down Monday on pushing through unpopular reforms to Europe’s largest economy after a far-right party surged to a landslide victory in a regional election, with a very good chance of forming the first far-right state government since the Nazi era.

The far-right AfD's triumph in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt marks a defeat for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and sends a warning to other European leaders battling the same mixture of slow growth and ​disillusion with mainstream politics.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government will have to learn the lessons from an overwhelming victory by the far right in a state election that he said will alter the country’s politics.

The state election result could lead to a debate over the future of the firewall that has kept the Alternative for Germany out of power.

GERMAN Chancellor Friedrich Merz refused to abandon unpopular economic policies yesterday after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won a landslide victory in a regional election.The anti-migration AfD fell three seats short of a majority in Sunday’s vote in the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt,

As the AfD attacks the German chancellor on multiple tactical fronts, his vague response is a pledge to be more compassionate with voters.

Hendrik Wüst, the 50-year-old premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, is frequently cited — including by CDU insiders — as the obvious chancellor-in-waiting. But replacing Merz would do little to resolve the party’s deeper dilemma over the Brandmauer against the AfD, Rödder said.