Germany is electing far-right and socialist parties. What does it mean for the country's floundering centre?

People attend the AfD final election campaign ahead of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state election in central Schwerin, Germany, September 19, 2026. The far-right party came in first place but is unlikely to form government because the other parties have refused to work with it. (Lisi Niesner/Reuters)Social SharingRight after the election results came in Sunday night, Germany’s chancellor stood in front of journalists and described it bluntly: "Es ist ein disaster." ("It is a disaster.")

Friedrich Merz’s centre-right party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has suffered catastrophic losses in a number of recent regional elections.

Over the weekend in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the CDU had its worst performance in history, failing to win enough votes to even keep a seat in the legislature. The far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) came in first place — for the second time in just a few weeks.

In the city state of Berlin, the CDU was unseated from the other side of the political spectrum, by the democratic socialist Die Linke ("The Left"). 

The CDU has been the most dominant party of Germany's post-war history. The fact that more Germans now say in surveys that they'd rather vote for a far-right party is a seismic shift.

And for a political system that is designed for stability, the rise of both the far-right and hard-left signals a crisis for the country's mainstream politics.

"People are getting polarized more and more these days," said Leonie Siwter, a Die Linke supporter who was celebrating at the Berlin watch party on Sunday night.

"In the last few years, our Chancellor Merz has managed with every single announcement to make himself less and less popular," she said. "They’ve lost a lot of trust."

On Sunday, Merz vowed to stay in his role but will do so on increasingly shaky ground, with his approval rating sitting at 13 per cent — a record low.

Elections in Germany's 16 states don't directly impact Merz's job. But his party's poor regional results challenge his viability as the country's national leader.

Like other democracies, Germany is seeing the rise of a far-right, nationalist movement — and in many ways, a radical left in response.

"The biggest part why people are voting for the Left Party now is because they’re afraid of the right parties and fascism growing in Germany," Die Linke supporter Michael Berger told CBC News.

The CDU, meanwhile, has been criticized for failing to properly tackle the rise of the AfD and seriously address the issues radical parties are politically capitalizing on, like immigration and housing.

Although Germany has one of the world’s largest economies, like other Western countries, it faces slowing growth, high fuel prices and an increased cost of living. The war in Ukraine along with manufacturing competition from China have also strained the country.

"In Germany, the economics are going down. It could not be worse," AfD supporter Daniel Specht told CBC News at a rally in August in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, where the party nearly formed a majority.

"If you elect the old parties, it will not get better."

Voters are no longer forming long-term relationships with established parties, according to Anna-Sophie Heinze, an expert in democracy and Europe’s far-right at the University of Lüneburg.

“Everything is getting more fragmented in society, and this is reflected in the political system,” she said.

Heinze said an increasing number of German voters, especially young ones, are looking for radical change. At the same time, more extreme views are being normalized.

Following Nazi rule, Germany’s political system was set up to make it hard for fringe parties to gain power. In order to have any seats in the federal and most state legislatures, a party must win at least five per cent of the overall vote.

Unlike other democracies such as Canada, where one party can easily win a majority, Germany’s system is designed to make it difficult.

The proportional voting system usually requires parties to form coalitions and govern together. It’s a natural way to encourage compromise and moderate views. 

But building agreement across a widening spectrum of viewpoints may become more difficult.

Protestors gather at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to protest the victory of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. (Maryam Majd/Reuters)Despite holding the most seats in the federal legislature after the CDU, the AfD’s power has been limited because the other parties refuse to work with a party they say has extreme views.

The AfD is pro-Russia and critical of Germany's support for Ukraine. It wants to severely restrict immigration, set up hundreds of deportation centres and encourage citizens of what it calls "German origin" to have more traditional families with many children.

At a news conference Monday, the AfD’s co-leader Alice Weidel said her party had replaced the CDU as Germany’s Volkspartei, or "party for all people."

If the AfD garners more voter support, it will become harder for the mainstream parties to block them from power.

“We see a weakening of democracy in Germany like we see in many other Western countries," said Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research.

"The political middle of the spectrum has been losing out," he said. "It cannot continue its old ways of moving very slowly."

Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel reacts as exit polls during the Berlin state election. The party is currently the most popular in the country. (Liesa Johannssen/Reuters)Berlin's MamdamiIn Berlin, voters went in a very different direction — where the anti-capitalist, democratic socialist Die Linke came in first place. 

Die Linke is descended from the former communist party of East Germany. It promises to prioritize Berlin's housing issues, with a plan to expropriate 200,000 housing units from large corporate landlords. In Berlin — which a former mayor famously called "poor but sexy" — most people do not own their home. Rent prices have doubled in the last decade.

Die Linke's Elif Eralp, who is likely to become the city’s new mayor, is the daughter of Turkish immigrants and has been dubbed Berlin’s Zohran Mamdani, referring to the New York City mayor, who is also a democratic socialist.

Die Linke (the Left) party top candidate Elif Eralp reacts to poll results in Berlin. The social democrat party promises to expropriate properties from large corporate landlords to deal with the city's housing crisis. (Axel Schmidt/Reuters)"In our city, love and justice won over hate, and today we showed that together and sent this signal out into the world," Eralp said in German to her supporters on election night.

Merz and the CDU have said they won’t work with Die Linke or the AfD, arguing both are too politically extreme. Instead, he promises to press on with his coalition partner, the centre-left SPD, and bring in tax and pension reforms to try to improve Germany’s economy. 

Merz said other European countries have been "asking him for weeks now what’s going on in Germany."

"Trust in our country's institutions is declining and is being actively undermined by radical parties on the left and the right."

Marina von Stackelberg is a senior reporter at CBC's Parliamentary Bureau in Ottawa. She is currently working in Berlin as a recipient of the 2026 Arthur F. Burns fellowship. She covers national politics with a focus on health, labour, and the NDP. Marina previously worked as a reporter and host in Winnipeg, with earlier stints in Halifax and Sudbury. Connect with her by email at mvs@cbc.ca or on social media @CBCMarina.