Merz’s CDU falls below 5% in German state election
The AfD won the most party-list votes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with 38.2%, ahead of the SPD on 35.5%, provisional official results show.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU won 4.9% of the party-list vote in the state election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, provisional results published by the state returning officer show.
The AfD took 38.2% of the second votes, which are cast for party lists, ahead of the SPD on 35.5%, according to the provisional result for the election held on 20 September.
Die Linke won 6.5% and the Greens 5.7%, while the BSW took 4.8% and the FDP 1.0%, the figures show.
In the 36 constituencies, AfD candidates won 22 direct mandates and SPD candidates 14.
The CDU’s share of the constituency vote was 6.2%, compared with 39.5% for the AfD and 37.4% for the SPD.
Turnout was 78.1%, with 1,024,251 of the 1,311,294 eligible voters taking part, the returning officer’s figures show.
A total of 1,015,323 second votes were valid, 99.1% of votes cast, with 8,928 ruled invalid, the returning officer’s figures show.
The SPD won the 2021 state election with 39.6% of the party-list vote, ahead of the AfD on 16.7% and the CDU on 13.3%, according to the returning officer’s final result for that election.
The figures show the CDU’s vote share fell by 8.4 percentage points and the SPD’s by 4.1 points since 2021, while the AfD’s rose by 21.5 points.
This year’s 78.1% turnout is up 7.3 percentage points on the 70.8% recorded in the 2021 election, the figures show.
The provisional result does not yet show how seats in the new state parliament will be shared out.
Berlin also held a state election on 20 September, with a provisional result showing Die Linke winning 25.7% of the party-list vote, ahead of the CDU on 18.8%, according to Berlin’s returning officer.
The AfD took 16.3% of the vote in Berlin, ahead of the Greens on 14.3%, the SPD on 12.1% and the BSW on 4.7%, the same source shows.
Merz, who leads the CDU, called the result a “disaster” but vowed to stay in office, according to reports by the BBC, Sky News, the New York Times, Al Jazeera, NPR and ZDF.
It is the first time the CDU has failed to enter a state parliament, according to ZDF.