Germany’s governing conservatives have called a special meeting for Sunday as internal pressure grows on Chancellor Friedrich Merz after the Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered a poor result this month in Saxony-Anhalt. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came close to winning an outright majority in the state election. Nationally, the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, are polling at 18% to 20%, well below their result in last year’s federal election and significantly behind the AfD. A weekend INSA poll found that most CDU supporters no longer consider Merz the right person for the job, while 78% of the wider public shared that view. The meeting is intended to coordinate the party’s response to Sunday’s elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, establish a strategy amid record-low support and demonstrate unity behind Merz. The CDU is polling at 7% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and 20% in Berlin, where it is tied with the Left Party for the highest support. Merz has rejected linking his political future to individual state-election results, saying Germany needs stability to advance an ambitious reform agenda and address European challenges including acts of hybrid warfare and support for Ukraine. He has also warned that the party has no clear successor or obvious alternative course.