Berliner Tageszeitung - Germany's Merz vows to stay course despite new vote losses

"What needs to be done now requires backbone, steadfastness and patience," Merz said at the Berlin headquarters of his centre-right CDU. "I will demonstrate this as CDU party chairman and, above all, as chancellor of our country."

The AfD had a narrow lead of about 37 percent in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania against around 35 percent for the centre-left SPD, according to exit polls by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.

Merz's CDU hovered just above five percent in the ex-communist eastern German state, barely enough to scrape back into parliament and its worst result ever -- an outcome Merz admitted was a "disaster".

In Berlin, the far-left Die Linke party with about 25 percent looked set to easily defeat the CDU, which is currently running the coalition government and scored 20 per cent, according to exit polls.

"In our city, love and justice have triumphed over hatred," said Die Linke's lead candidate Elif Eralp, the daughter of Turkish migrants, celebrating her party's triumph over the anti-immigration AfD.

Merz -- who had called a crisis meeting of his party leadership in anticipation of a poor result -- quickly stepped before the cameras and vowed to stay the course, following recent speculation he may soon be ousted by his party.

"The reforms have to come," 70-year-old Merz said. "I am taking on this responsibility because I want to move our country forward."

Merz acknowledged that "trust in our country's institutions is waning" and said it was being "actively undermined by radical parties on both the left and the right".

The AfD's jubilant national co-leader Alice Weidel said that "we are the strongest force and have reached the mainstream of the population".

- Poor approval ratings -

Merz -- with record low personal approval ratings after 16 months in office -- has been fighting off rumours he may be ousted by his centre-right CDU/CSU bloc.

After Sunday's crisis meeting, the chancellor has also cleared his calendar for the following days and skipped a trip to the UN General Assembly to deal with potential aftershocks from the votes.

The latest elections came two weeks after the far-right, pro-Trump and Moscow-friendly AfD dealt a stunning defeat to the CDU in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Sunday's Berlin election was a historic first for Die Linke, which promises drastic steps to solve a housing crisis in the German capital, including expropriating flats held by large corporate landlords.

A CDU defeat there, if confirmed in final results, is another black eye for Merz -- especially at the hands of its nemesis Die Linke, which opposes big business, rejects military aid for Ukraine and wants Germany to exit NATO.

- Call for 'stability' -

When Merz took office in May last year, he vowed to reboot a flagging economy, rebuild the military to deter Russia, and reduce irregular immigration to soothe voters' fears and lure them away from the AfD.

But the AfD now leads nationwide polls and Merz's personal approval ratings hover just above 10 percent, not helped by his occasionally blunt and abrasive comments.

Under-fire Merz received some badly needed support from CDU powerbrokers on Wednesday when eight state premiers declared jointly that Germany needs "stability now more than ever" rather than "discussions about personnel".

They refrained, however, from issuing a personal endorsement for Merz.

S. Sokolow--BTZ