Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Germany's "Firewall"

"The earthquake”in the East

German politics has just experienced a real "earthquake" after the results of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliamentary election were announced on September 6th. Accordingly, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won overwhelmingly with 44% of the vote – a record number that puts this force in the lead for the first time in a state-level election. Conversely, the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a heavy defeat, with support plummeting to just 17%.

By fully exploiting voters' attitudes toward immigration, inflation, and rising energy costs, Ulrich Siegmund (35 years old), a representative of the far-right AfD party, attracted a large number of voters in this election. With 39 out of 83 seats in the state parliament, the AfD, although not yet having an absolute majority to form a government on its own, secured the challenging mandate to govern. This is the first time since World War II that a far-right party has had the opportunity to become the largest political force in a German state.

The AfD's victory also dealt a major blow to Prime Minister Friedrich Merz and the center-right CDU coalition. This result could increase internal pressure on Merz, as public approval ratings for the government have fallen to alarming levels, reflecting public frustration over sluggish economic growth.

The arduous path of a traditional politician

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's full name is Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz. Born in 1955 in Brilon, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany, into a traditional Catholic family, he graduated in law in 1985 and became a judge in the Saarbrücken District Court. In 1986, he left this position to work as an in-house lawyer for the German Chemical Industry Association in Bonn and Frankfurt from 1986 to 1989. He successfully ran in the 1989 European Parliament elections and served one term as a Member of the European Parliament until 1994. Having risen to the position of Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) in 2000, he was then considered a rising star of the opposition. However, his decades-long rivalry with Angela Merkel ultimately led to his downfall.

Having missed opportunities for advancement under former Chancellor Merkel, Merz left politics in 2009 to return to international corporate law at Mayer Brown and served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the German branch of investment firm BlackRock Inc. from 2016 to 2020.

Despite being a millionaire with a pilot's license and two private planes, his passion for politics never faded, and he returned to politics in 2018. Despite two consecutive defeats in 2018 and 2021, he persevered and won overwhelmingly with 62.1% of the vote to become Chairman of the CDU in early 2022. The peak of his career came when the CDU/CSU coalition won the federal election in February 2025. Following this, negotiations to form a coalition with the second-place Social Democratic Party (SPD) were successful. However, the fact that this coalition government had to go through two votes in Parliament was surprising and unprecedented in post-war German politics. On May 6, 2025, Merz officially assumed office as the 10th Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, succeeding Olaf Scholz.

Maintain the "firewall".

Facing increasing pressure following the AfD's historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt, Prime Minister Friedrich Merz appeared after an emergency meeting of CDU leaders in Berlin, visibly shaken. He publicly acknowledged, "This is the heaviest electoral defeat the CDU has suffered in years, even decades. Naturally, this will have consequences." He also frankly admitted that his own low approval ratings and the government's slow pace of reforms had negatively impacted voter sentiment.

However, faced with political turmoil, Prime Minister Friedrich Merz affirmed his commitment to remaining in office and his determination to pursue the government's reform program. He pledged to push forward reforms in the economy, healthcare, pensions, and to improve the effectiveness of communicating policies to the public.

Prime Minister Friedrich Merz emphasized that a defeat in a local election could not shake the reform path for the long-term benefit of the country. The Prime Minister's resolve was also demonstrated through his uncompromising foreign policy stance. The core of Prime Minister Merz's message amidst the political storm was the reaffirmation of the "Brandmauer" principle – a policy of non-cooperation and non-alliance with the AfD in any form.

Following their victory in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD called on CDU MPs to help create a "center-right conservative majority" in the state, thereby breaking through the "firewall" policy. However, Merz and the CDU leadership firmly refused any form of cooperation or compromise with the far right. Although this pushed the state government into an extremely difficult and complicated coalition negotiation scenario, the CDU still accepted the price in terms of political credibility to protect the core democratic order of the Constitution.

During a heated debate in the German Parliament (Bundestag) on ​​September 9, 2026, Chancellor Merz vehemently criticized the policy of mass deportation of immigrants, which the AfD party calls "remigration." The Chancellor asserted that this term is merely a cover for "ethnic cleansing" ideology and warned that, if implemented, it would devastate the labor market.

The challenges ahead for the 70-year-old leader remain immense. But through his handling of the storm, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has sent a clear signal of his leadership qualities by steadfastly defending democratic principles and resolutely pursuing the government's reform program to steer Germany through this difficult period.