Less than a year and a half after the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) took over the leadership of the ruling coalition in Germany, the party lost to the extreme right for the first time in regional elections. Voting is expected next Sunday in another state, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the CDM for the first time in its history faced the risk of not overcoming the threshold of 5 percent. On the same day, Chancellor Friedrich Mertz will hold a meeting with the CDU leadership, where a decision on his resignation may be made. In order to stop the rapid loss of voter confidence, high-ranking officials of the party are already discussing the need to change the chancellor in private conversations, writes Politico. The rating of Mertz himself dropped to 14% this week, and the alliance of CDM and its ally KSM to an unprecedented 18%. Meanwhile, 29% of voters support the far-right "Alternative for Germany" party. two weeks ago in the Saxony-Anhalt elections, it received almost 44%, while the CDM's figure was more than halved. Mertz scheduled the meeting of the CDU executive committee on Sunday evening, when the exit poll data and preliminary election results will start to be received, ZDF reports. He intends to initiate an "indirect vote of confidence" by asking the party's leadership the following question: are they ready to support him and his plan for economic reforms? If not, Mertz will ask to nominate a replacement candidate, ZDF and Politico write. Even if the party does not support Mertz, he may hold the post for weeks, or even months (until a new candidate is agreed upon). In particular, he will have to discuss with the Social Democratic Party, which is part of the ruling coalition. In addition, Mertz has no influential opponents in the CDM, and by and large he is counting on that, raising the issue of support.