German leader Friedrich Merz refuses to resign after local election losses

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is refusing to step down despite exit polls showing heavy losses for his centre-right Christian Democratic Union party in two state votes. Merz made his position clear in a public statement shortly after the poll numbers came out for Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, located in the north-east, the CDU initially looked like it would barely win enough support for its worst result ever. A few hours later, updated projections showed the party falling below the 5% vote mark required to keep its seats in the state parliament. Merz openly described the outcome as a disaster for his political party.