The Mecklenburg-Prepomerania election is this coming Sunday, Sept. 20. There are bitter complaints from Christian Democrats about what they view as a “brutal” election campaign by current Mecklenburg-Prepomerania’s Minister President Manuela Schwesig (SPD) to buffer votes at the expense of the CDU, to an extent that the CDU—rated at 7 percent of the vote—must fear getting enough support to even pass the needed 5-percent threshold for seats in the parliament. Schwesig argues that everything else is secondary to her intent to stop the rise of the AfD, and defeat it even with a miniscule margin. That has certain repercussions for the federal government coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, enhancing the crisis of the CDU and adding to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s problems.

The Green Party faces a similar fate as it also struggles to attain the 5-percent threshold. If the Greens fail, and the BSE, rated at 4 percent, fails as well, this would leave the newly elected state parliament with only three parties: SPD, AfD and Linke (rated with 9 percent)—with the prospect of an SPD-Linke government.