German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that he is "deeply shocked" by the historic victory of the far-right AfD party in Saxony-Anhalt, which represented an overwhelming defeat for his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), in the state's regional elections.
Although it did not achieve an absolute majority, the AfD surged to first place on Sunday, according to exit polls, putting the far-right within reach of power at the state level for the first time since World War II.
Merz said during a press conference: "We did not expect things to end this way," adding that this is "an electoral result that we cannot simply ignore." The chancellor also admitted he suffered the "most severe electoral defeat in years."
