Merz pledges to persevere as CDU faces local-election setbacks

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to stay on after local polls projected CDU defeats in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin, with the far-right AfD tipped to top votes in MV. Merz called the results a disaster, faced questions about a possible mid-term replacement, and repeated his plan to push through economic, tax and welfare reforms as the antidote to rising authoritarian sentiment, insisting the reforms must go ahead to move the country forward.