# The Far Right Won. The Chancellor's Party Got 4.9%. Nobody Can Govern.

*World · 22 September 2026 · RECORDx NEWS*

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCH7K6LjvOU
Page: https://news.recordx.co/story/the-far-right-won-the-chancellors-party-got-4-9-nobody-can-govern/

Two German states voted on Sunday 20 September 2026, and the chancellor's own party finished on under five percent in one of them.
Projections on the night in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: the far-right AfD first on 38.3% - a 20-point gain, more than doubling their result - the SPD on 35.4%, the Left on 6.5%, the Greens on 5.5%, and Friedrich Merz's CDU on 4.9%, only just at the 5% threshold needed to enter the state parliament at all.
In Berlin: the Left party first on 25.3%, the CDU on 19% and down almost ten points, the AfD third on 16.3%. DW attributed the Left's result partly to anger over housing costs and partly to 16- and 17-year-olds voting for the first time.
Merz called the Mecklenburg result "simply a disaster", and said he is staying: "As head of the CDU party and as German Chancellor of this country, I have these qualities."
And the part that complicates all of it: the AfD came first and still cannot govern. Every major party has ruled out a coalition with them. The Social Democrats came second in the north-east and can build one, potentially continuing almost three decades of governing that state.
SOURCES - DW News, "German chancellor calls state election a 'disaster' for his party", 20 September 2026 - election night coverage. All footage. - Reporting: DW, Al Jazeera, NPR, CNN, Bloomberg (20-21 September 2026).
Note: the chancellor's words are heard here in DW's ENGLISH TRANSLATION. The voice is the translator's, not his. The figures are projections as broadcast on the night, not final results.

## Transcript

Two German states voted on Sunday. In one of them, the chancellor's own party finished on under five percent
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, initial projections put the far-right alternative for Germany first on 38%, a 20-point gain. They more than doubled
The result in Mecklenburg -Western Pomerania, we can't deny, is simply a disaster.
The Chancellor's Christian Democrats came in on four point nine percent, only just scraping the threshold to enter the state parliament at all.
In Berlin, the left party came first on 25%, and the Christian Democrats dropped almost ten points. Two things helped the left: anger over housing costs and sixteen and seventeen-year-olds voting for the first time
What we need to do will take endurance, resoluteness and patience. As head of the CDU party and as German Chancellor of this country, I have these qualities.
In the northeast, the Social Democrats came second and can still build a coalition. Almost three decades of governing that state may simply continue
And here is the part that complicates all of it. The AfD came first and still cannot govern. Every major party has ruled out a coalition with them
So the chancellor keeps his job, and the party that won the night has nobody to rule with

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