Germany’s far-right earthquake leaves Merz reeling with ‘existential shock’

S hock, awe and fear filled the haggard face of Friedrich Merz on Monday.

The 70-year-old German chancellor is no novice but he hung his shaking head, struggling to comprehend the causes and consequences of Sunday evening’s political earthquake .

As cameras rolled, Merz acknowledged that Germany was on course to elect its first far-right extremist leader since May 1945.

Sunday’s landslide for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt – almost 44 per cent with 76 per cent turnout – was, he said, an “existential shock” for the country, his centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – and for him.

What’s more, he warned that the clock is ticking to save Germany’s postwar constitutional order.

“This is the worst for defeat for the CDU in years, decades and something has changed, not just in Saxony-Anhalt but in all of Germany,” he said.