PoliticsGermany’s Merz Vows to Stay After Record Election Loss

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would remain in office after his Christian Democratic Union suffered its worst-ever result in a state election and failed to win enough votes for a single seat. The defeat has weakened his position, with rank-and-file members calling for the chancellor, who polls describe as the least popular of postwar Germany’s leaders, to step down after 16 months.