Merz’s CDU aims to expand presence in German regions

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) plans to increase support in those German regions where it has to date received little backing, CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann said on Monday.

The news comes as the CDU is under a growing threat from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), particularly in the eastern states.

A poll last month, for example, found that if a state election were held in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the AfD would receive 38% of the vote to the CDU’s 13%. That state as well as another eastern state, Saxony-Anhalt, has elections in September 2026.

Linnemann was speaking as the party executive concluded a closed-door retreat over the weekend to discuss policy. He said the “White Patches Programme” would launch at the start of 2026.

The conservative party would bundle its forces to work towards ensuring an on-location presence through government and party, he said.

There would in addition be close cooperation between the CDU executive at federal level and CDU state-level organizations.

“We will go into the regions with additional personnel. We want to reactivate the regions, motivate people regionally and not only stabilize structures, but build them anew, where necessary,” he said.

He noted that there were regions where the CDU had no representatives in either the state or federal parliaments – and also no mayors or local councillors.