CDU Collapse Sparks Regional Realignment

Regional election routs in three German states show the CDU losing its traditional voter base: in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern the CDU fell below the 5% threshold (4.9%), in Sachsen‑Anhalt it underperformed polls by ~20% while the AfD surged, and in Berlin the CDU plunged to 18.8% behind Die Linke. Those localized defeats are already producing new coalitions and could shift national bargaining power, policy agendas, and the ability of the federal government to enact reform. — If centre‑right parties can be hollowed out by simultaneous regional defeats, national governance, migration and energy policy, and European party politics can rapidly reconfigure.