Friedrich Merz has recognized this Sunday the "disaster" electoral of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and has defended maintaining the reforms of his Government despite the setback. The German chancellor appeared at the headquarters of his party in Berlin after the first polls and has warned that changes will not always receive applause and will need time to yield results.
“The result in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is a disaster,” Merz has stated, according to ZDF in its coverage at 18:16. The statement coincides with that published by WELT, which attributes to the chancellor the acknowledgment that the result of the conservatives cannot be sugar-coated.
The message combines the admission of regional failure with a defense of the government's direction. Merz has maintained that the response cannot be a return to the supposed good times of the past and has placed the recovery of economic opportunities, especially for young people, among his objectives.
According to the statements collected by WELT, the chancellor wants Germany to once again offer a credible perspective of social ascent and prosperity. To achieve this, he has insisted, changes will be necessary that will require effort from the population.
Merz warns of sacrifices and asks for time for reforms
“Changes require strength,” Merz has pointed out before adding: “Not everything will find applause.” The chancellor has acknowledged that the reforms planned by his Government will entail sacrifices for many people.
He has also warned that their effects will not be immediate: “In some areas, results will only come after a while.”
His words appeal to granting time to the reforms and accepting that their benefits may take time to become visible. The message responds to one of the political difficulties of the Government: sustaining measures that may generate rejection before producing the results with which it intends to justify them.
Merz has personally taken on the responsibility of promoting them. “The reforms have to come,” he has stated. “We take on that responsibility, I take on that responsibility, because I want to move our country forward,” WELT reports.
A response to the advance of authoritarianism
The chancellor has linked the continuity of the reforms with the defense of democracy. In his speech, he has presented the ability to transform Germany as a response to the growing appeal of authoritarian options.
The political reading of his appearance is that the recognition of the electoral blow does not translate, for now, into the announcement of a program change. Merz has defended regaining trust through the action of the Government and the improvement of citizens' expectations.
The first estimate with real votes leaves the CDU at 5.1%
The appearance has occurred after particularly adverse closing polls for the conservatives. Subsequently, at 18:27, ZDF published a first estimate based on real votes that places the CDU at 5.1% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
This projection grants 37.8% to AfD and 36.3% to the SPD of Manuela Schwesig. Die Linke obtains 6.2%; The Greens, 5.5%, and BSW, 4.8%.
This is an estimate made during the counting, not a definitive result. The proximity of several parties to the 5% threshold keeps open a decisive question for the distribution of seats and future majorities.
For the CDU, the picture confirms the seriousness of the scenario that Merz had recognized minutes earlier: the conservatives are far from contesting the first position and are pending a count that will determine their parliamentary weight.
Merz distinguishes between Mecklenburg and Berlin
The chancellor has used a different tone when referring to Berlin, the other electoral scenario of the day. According to WELT, he has described the CDU's result in the capital as "acceptable" and has highlighted the "difficult situation" from which his candidate, Stefan Evers, started the campaign.
Merz has thus reserved the term "disaster" for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The distinction allows for a precise understanding of his words: he has expressly acknowledged the sinking of his party in that state, while defending the performance of the Berlin candidacy.