Merz vows to stay as chancellor after AfD's Saxony-Anhalt win

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to remain in office despite the far-right AfD's landslide victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election, a result he admitted has shaken his conservative CDU "to its very foundations." The AfD won nearly 44% of the vote on Sunday, routing the CDU, which secured just 17%. Merz, who has been in office only 16 months and faces low approval ratings, conceded his personal unpopularity contributed to the defeat, while the AfD's Ulrich Siegmund fell just short of an absolute majority. The result brings the AfD, classified as rightwing extremist by intelligence services, within striking distance of forming Germany's first far-right state government since the Nazi era. Merz insisted he would continue reforms and support for Ukraine, while some commentators called for his immediate replacement.