German Chancellor Merz plans to convene the executive committee of his center-right Christian Democratic Party (CDU) immediately after the two state elections on 20 to win continued support within the party.
Speculation that Friedrich Merz, 70, may face challenges within his own camp, the Christian Democratic/Christian Socialist Union (CDU/CSU), has been rife after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) recently defeated the CDU in a state election, Agence France-Presse reported.
Meltzer today canceled his scheduled trip to New York, the United States, to attend the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly in order to attend a party meeting.
The CDU executive committee will meet after elections in the city of Berlin and the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the 20th, a party spokesman said.
The latest polls show that the CDU is on par with the far-left Die Linke in Berlin, while in another state election, the vote could even be as low as 7 percent. The AfD is expected to gain something in the elections in both places.
According to a poll by the Forsa Institute this week, only 10 percent of respondents were satisfied with the prime minister’s performance.
Merz, who is also the chairman of the CDU, took office last May vowing to revitalize Germany’s stagnant economy, rearm to face an unfriendly Russia, limit illegal immigration and push forward a number of reforms to curb the rise of AfD forces.
But the AfD currently surpasses the CDU in national support and defeated the CDU by nearly 44% to 17% in the Saxony-Anhalt election on June 6.
Merz’s personal support in the polls has been low for a long time and has recently been criticized by the party, fueling speculation that the influential CDU state-level political figure may be brewing to force the throne.