[The chairman of the German Alternative for Germany said Merz cannot support the Christian Democratic Union] September 21st: In the parliamentary election in the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg) held on September 20, the far-right Alternative for Germany won 38.2% of the votes, becoming the largest party in the state. The Christian Democratic Union led by German Chancellor Mertz suffered a disastrous defeat and failed to even reach the "threshold" of 5% of the vote to enter the state parliament. This is also the CDU's worst record in any state-level election. Alternative for Germany chairman Weidel said that night that she believed "the CDU can no longer continue to be led by Merz - a weak prime minister cannot support this party." Weidel also called the Alternative for Germany a new "people's party." Regarding the German Left Party's lead in the Berlin city council election, Weidel called this "worrying" and said that the reason for the CDU's poor performance and being "attacked by the left and right" was its "firewall policy" - that is, the CDU's exclusive strategy of refusing to cooperate with the Alternative for Germany. (CCTV International News)