Merz says he has party backing after historic CDU election defeat

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared he has secured his party's backing to remain in office after his Christian Democratic Union suffered historic defeats in regional elections, losing its parliamentary seat in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the first time since the founding of the Federal Republic in 1949. The election debacle, in which the CDU received less than 5% of the vote, caps a month of losses at the hands of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and has intensified calls within the conservative party for Merz to step aside. Merz stated he secured his party's support after gathering the CDU's leadership in Berlin to gauge his position. He said no members raised the issue of a change in leadership during the closed-door meeting. The chancellor conceded the results were a "disaster" and a "profound turning point" for his party, but vowed to push forward with his reform agenda. The AfD emerged as the strongest party in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania election, more than doubling its support. The party's leader in the state, Leif-Erik Holm, declared the AfD is the "new civic-conservative party," arguing the CDU has failed to fulfill that role for years.