Germany: Far-right AfD party wins another regional election

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU party is recording weak results in two regional elections held on Sunday in Germany, according to exit polls. The conservative party is being outpaced by the far-right AfD in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and is trailing the Die Linke party in Berlin.

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a state in the northeast of the country, the AfD is credited with 38% of the vote, according to an exit poll conducted by German public television. The result would confirm the rise of the far-right party, just two weeks after it achieved its best result in history in Saxony-Anhalt.

The CDU would obtain only 5% in this predominantly rural state, a score at the threshold required for representation in the regional parliament.

In Berlin, Die Linke is leading with 26%, followed by the CDU and the Greens, according to preliminary estimates. The final results are expected to determine the distribution of seats and any possible regional governing coalitions.