In Germany, Friedrich Merz is playing for his political survival during the regional elections on Sunday.

Two weeks after the earthquake caused by the historic score of the far-right in the regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany is preparing to return to the polls on Sunday, September 20th. In a federal system almost every year punctuated by regional elections, two other Länder, out of sixteen that the country has, are renewing their regional parliaments and executives: the city of Berlin (3.9 million inhabitants) and the region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (1.6 million), which borders the Baltic Sea and is located in former East Germany. Under normal circumstances, these elections, which concern a little over 6% of the German population, would arouse little interest outside the concerned regions. But for the ruling coalition in Berlin since May 2025, and for Friedrich Merz, the very unpopular chancellor who leads it, this is now a matter of political survival. "The situation is extremely tense politically," describes Thomas Biebricher, a professor of political science at Goethe University in Frankfurt. There is real dissatisfaction with the government and the chancellor, which his party has put under strong pressure in recent days by circulating all sorts of unrealistic scenarios. In fact, many barons and figures of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) quickly attribute responsibility for these poor results to the chancellor. You have 80.72% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.