German state elections: Chancellor Friedrich Merz vows to stay on despite a ‘disaster’ in the polls.

Amy Walker, Jessica Parker   BBC20 September 2026
Exit polls show damaging losses for Merz’s centre-right CDU party.

In the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the CDU fell short of a 5% threshold to enter parliament and the Far-right AfD was on track to win the most votes.

Meanwhile in Berlin, the ruling CDU was on course to be beaten by Die Linke (The Left).