Event dossier

German leader Merz clings on after election 'disaster'

Despite seeing his party tumble to its worst regional election defeat in post-war Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz vows to stay in power after announcing the centre-left Social Democrats wanted to remain in a… Grouped from 5 articles across 5 sources.

5 reports5 sourcesSep 21, 2026, 1:13 PM
FilterABC Australia
Clustered coverageABC Australia, BBC News, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Straits Times
Coverage timeline5
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Ranked reports inside the event cluster. Open any publisher link to read the original coverage.

ABC AustraliaSep 21, 2026, 1:13 PM

German leader Merz clings on after election 'disaster'

Despite seeing his party tumble to its worst regional election defeat in post-war Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz vows to stay in power after announcing the centre-left Social Democrats wanted to remain in a coalition with his conservatives.

Financial TimesSep 21, 2026, 2:08 AM

German chancellor Merz vows to stay on despite ‘disaster’ in regional elections

Result leaves CDU without seats in state parliament in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

The Straits TimesSep 21, 2026, 9:38 AM

Friedrich Merz clings on after German election ‘disaster’

Members of his coalition clashed over his unpopular reform agenda.

BBC NewsSep 21, 2026, 8:56 AM

German Chancellor Merz calls state election a 'disaster' for his party but vows to stay on

Exit polls show damaging losses for Merz's centre-right CDU party in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin.

The GuardianSep 21, 2026, 10:04 AM

Latest German election humiliation puts Merz on borrowed time as CDU unrest grows

Chancellor acknowledges disastrous state election results but vow to push on is likely to further alienate voters, and his own party German chancellor clinging to power after another loss to far-right AfD Friedrich Merz called it a “disaster”, and that was even before the full scale of the catastrophe for himself and his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came into view after Sunday’s state elections . In what one outlet called a “power move” , the German chancellor made a highly unusual televised speech just minutes after polls closed in the states of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, attempting to get ahead of the narrative with a pledge to stay on and fight for his economic recovery programme . Continue reading...

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