fire Merz vows to show 'patience' and 'backbone'

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has started the week more damaged than ever after his centre-right CDU party suffered two bruising regional election defeats at the hands of far-right and far-left parties.

Just 16 months in office, Mr Merz has seen his approval ratings plummet while his party has suffered a string of regional election losses against the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which also leads nationwide polls.

Fighting speculation that his CDU/CSU bloc may try to oust him, Mr Merz took the unusual step of addressing the nation on TV last night, just minutes after the first exit polls were announced.

Mr Merz admitted that his CDU had suffered a "disaster" in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state - and that was before the CDU dropped below 5% there in the ongoing count, meaning it got kicked out of parliament altogether.