Merz vows to fight 'extremism' after AfD and Left Party election gains

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that 'extremism' was forcefully making its way into Germany's parliaments, speaking at an event in Berlin hosted by Handelsblatt and Wirtschaftswoche, according to Al Jazeera and Tagesschau. 'Anyone who casts their vote for the AfD is playing the extremists' game and undermining credibility,' Merz said, adding: 'In any case, this is incompatible with the values of my party, the CDU.' Tagesschau reported that Merz called the events a 'historic turning point' and again warned against any cooperation with the AfD.

The comments followed the election of AfD lawmaker Tobias Rausch as president of the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt on Tuesday. Tagesschau reported that Rausch received 48 of the 82 votes cast in a secret ballot, meaning he also had support from other parties. Al Jazeera reported that the AfD won the 6 September state election but fell three seats short of the absolute majority it had sought.

Tagesschau reported that the AfD and the BSW, which supports it, hold 44 seats together, and that the CDU leadership had recommended its 15 lawmakers abstain. Only five abstentions were recorded, and one CDU lawmaker was absent from the session, according to MDR. The SPD, Greens and Left Party had announced they would vote against Rausch; together they hold 24 seats, and 29 no votes were cast in total.

Merz said that because the vote was secret, it is not known who voted for the AfD candidate, and that it need not have been CDU lawmakers alone, Tagesschau reported. 'False-flag operations exist not only in the military, they also exist in politics, and therefore be careful with premature conclusions,' he said, in what Tagesschau described as an apparent reference to the conduct of Left Party lawmakers. He said three groupings in the new parliament would do 'everything to undermine cohesion in our democracy.'

North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wüst (CDU) said there must be no normalisation of right-wing extremist thinking in parliaments. 'The parliament is the heart chamber of our democracy,' he said, according to Tagesschau, adding that its leadership by a member of a party he called 'confirmed right-wing extremist' showed 'something in our country has been shaken.' CDU general secretary Franziska Hoppermann called the vote a 'heavy blow' for the party, the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers reported.

Al Jazeera reported that the Left Party won the Berlin state election on 20 September, roughly doubling its previous score. Lead candidate Elif Eralp campaigned on housing costs and promised to nationalise private housing associations, in line with a 2021 referendum in which 58 percent of voters backed the move; Al Jazeera reported she could become the first Left Party mayor of Berlin. An ARD survey earlier in October found one in 10 respondents satisfied or very satisfied with Merz's performance, the lowest figure for any chancellor since the survey began in 1997.