German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faced growing pressure on his leadership ahead of state elections in which polls suggest his governing party will fare badly.
In one region, his CDU party is barely above the threshold required to enter the state assembly, and it faces the prospect of falling to second in the capital, too.
Eight state premiers, all from the CDU, backed Merz ahead of ballots being cast and Germany has little history of replacing chancellors mid-term. But moribund economic growth and his personal unpopularity have raised what once seemed an unlikely prospect for the CDU.
“The party forgives its chairman a great deal — as long as he governs successfully,” a Handelsblatt correspondent wrote. “The time for forgiveness is over.”
