Germany's embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to stay the course despite stinging election setbacks in two states at the hands of the far-right AfD and the far-left Die Linke party.
"What needs to be done now requires backbone, steadfastness and patience," Merz said at the Berlin headquarters of his centre-right CDU on Sunday.
"I will demonstrate this as CDU party chairman and, above all, as chancellor of our country."
The AfD had a narrow lead of about 37 percent in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern against around 35 percent for the centre-left SPD, according to exit polls by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
Merz's CDU hovered just above five percent in the eastern German state, barely enough to scrape back into parliament and its worst result ever, an outcome Merz admitted was a "disaster".
In Berlin, the far-left Die Linke party, with about 25 percent looked set to easily defeat the CDU, which is currently running the coalition government and scored 20 per cent, according to exit polls.
"In our city, love and justice have triumphed over hatred," said Die Linke's lead candidate Elif Eralp, the daughter of Turkish migrants, celebrating her party's triumph over the anti-immigration AfD.
Merz, who had called a crisis meeting of his party leadership in anticipation of a poor result, quickly stepped before the cameras and vowed to stay the course, following recent speculation that he may soon be ousted by his party.
"The reforms have to come," 70-year-old Merz said.
"I am taking on this responsibility because I want to move our country forward."
Merz acknowledged that "trust in our country's institutions is waning" and said it was being "actively undermined by parties on both the left and the right".
The AfD's jubilant national co-leader Alice Weidel said that "we are the strongest force and have reached the mainstream of the population".
