Elections pile pressure on German Chancellor

Global News Podcast

The episode covers a series of significant international news developments, beginning with the political fallout from recent state elections in

Key takeaways

• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz labeled the election results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a 'disaster' for the CDU.
• Eighteen suspects involved in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse have been extradited to Florida.

Main topics

• German state elections
• Haitian presidential assassination trial

Notable quotes

We can't sugarcoat the results in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. It's a disaster.

Conclusion

The episode provides a dense overview of global political shifts, lega

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:00) This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Speaker 1 (0:03) This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Pete Ross, and in the early hours of Monday the 21st of September, these are our main stories. Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz has described the results of a state election as a disaster for his party, as the far-right AFD continues to make gains. US officials say 18 suspects in the assassination of the Haitian president, Gouverneur Moïse, five years ago, have been flown from Haiti to Florida for trial. Also in this podcast, there's an outcry in Barcelona over plans to expand the airport. The quality of the air Speaker 7 (0:39) and the quality of the water of our natural area has decreased and decreased and decreased. And Speaker 1 (0:46) Donald Trump reveals more details about his controversial plans to build a triumphal arch in Washington, D.C. Speaker 1 (0:55) We begin in Germany, where the embattled Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is fighting for his political survival. As you record this podcast, preliminary results from two state elections on Sunday suggest damaging defeats for his centre-right Christian Democratic Union Party. In one of them, in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the CDU may have dipped below the threshold needed to stay in Parliament. The far-right Alternative für Deutschland, or AFD, is on track to win the most votes there. Not long ago, the party was on the fringes of German politics, but its anti-immigration agenda has proved popular, and it's fast emerging as a major force. Mr Mertz admitted that the result was hugely damaging for his party, but has vowed to stay in office. Speaker 6 (1:47) Today Speaker 1 (1:47) we've seen two elections with very different results. We can't sugarcoat the results in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. It's a disaster. The CDU fought, but ultimately got squeezed between the SPD and the AfD. Leif-Erik Holm is the AFD candidate for Premier in the state. Speaker 8 (2:06) We've seen that people want change. That too is clearly reflected in the numbers. We are in the lead and of course we want to remain in the lead by the end of the evening. We want to become the strongest force. We have the mandate to govern here in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Speaker 1 (2:26) The other state election was in Berlin where the CDU also performed poorly. Our Berlin correspondent, Jessica Parker, spoke to us from the capital there as results were coming in. Speaker 2 (2:37) The initial exit poll drops showed Die Linke, the left party, coming out ahead in Berlin, therefore potentially squeezing a second-place Conservative CDU party out of a future coalition. Talks will obviously now need to happen, as is per usual in German politics. And then in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as we've been hearing... No one expected the CDU to do well. It's not a strong state for them. But being around that 5 % threshold, where if you fall below it, you don't even get into the state parliament, that's pretty disastrous for the CDU and a record low result. And I think the one that Friedrich Merz has basically described as a disaster for them, a lot of people are saying he needs to answer this as the leader of his party. One CDU official I spoke to earlier in the week. said he thought it was a tricky situation, but maybe Friedrich Merz did need to go. And this idea of a Kanzlertausch, a chancellor swap, where someone else within the CDU could maybe take Friedrich Merz's place. I put basically the same question to a man called Burghard Degger, the member of Speaker 8 (3:40) the Speaker 2 (3:40) CDU in Berlin, and asked him if Merz should stay. Speaker 8 (3:43) Yeah, of course he should. He has a lot of work to do and we don't have time to waste to form new government in the federal level. Let him continue his job. It's very important. And I trust in him that he will be able to do the necessary reforms which are necessary to bring Germany again in the lead in Europe. Speaker 2 (4:05) Aren't you worried that he is personally so unpopular and he has failed to do what he wanted to do, which was to counter the rise of Alternativa for Deutschland? Speaker 8 (4:17) Yeah, I think the Germans are very impatient at the moment. The Chancellor is in office for a little bit more than one year and it's not realistic to expect that every issue has been solved within one year. He has got four years and we have to give him the four years. And I'm very confident that they will deliver with the necessary reforms. Speaker 1 (4:43) That was the CDU politician, Burkhard Dräger. ending that interview with Jessica Parker in Berlin. Well, two weeks ago, many analysts talked about a watershed moment for Germany when the AFD won a stunning victory in a state election in Saxony-Anhalt. So, how did that compare with its performance on Sunday in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania? Here's Jessica Parker once more. Speaker 2 (5:06) Pretty different, actually, in the sense that in Saxony-Anhalt, they were streets ahead and nearly scored a parliamentary majority, which is a remarkable feat in German politics. However, they have now chalked up, it looks like, their third state win by taking the most votes, according to those initial exit polls in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. So they will be delighted by that. There was a bit of a catch-up campaign by the centre-left. SPD, they're obviously unlikely to actually take power in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern because most other parties won't work with the AFD, which is something the AFD says is deeply undemocratic. Speaker 1 (5:40) Jessica Parker in Berlin. It's more than five years since the assassination of the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse. He was shot at his home in the capital, Port-au-Prince, allegedly by a group of mainly Colombian mercenaries. Now 18 people have been extradited from Haiti to Florida and are set to stand trial for their alleged involvement in the assassination. Previous Haitian investigations into the killing were stalled because of the lawlessness in the country. Our Central America correspondent Will Grant told me more about President Moïse's assassination. Speaker 6 (6:13) Well, it was a truly shocking moment when Jovenel Moïse was killed. In his residence, his wife was injured in the attack, which was carried out by gunmen who simply seemed to walk in. And I think that was the