BERLIN: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed Monday to take on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of five state elections next year as the party surges in the polls. The AfD scored a record 20.8% in a general election in February, and its ratings have since continued to rise, with many surveys now putting it as the biggest party. Merz said the AfD would be the &quot;main opponent&quot; of his conservative CDU/CSU alliance at state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Berlin in 2026.&nbsp;&lsquo;Very clearly and explicitly&rsquo;&quot;We will now also be very clear and very explicit about where the AfD stands in terms of content, and we will distance ourselves from them very clearly and explicitly,&quot; he said after a party conference in Berlin. In the two former East German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD is currently projected to win by a clear margin. This has led some regional CDU officials to call for the party to drop its opposition to forming political alliances with the far right.&nbsp;&lsquo;Wants a different country&rsquo;&nbsp;But Merz insisted that his party would not collaborate with the AfD, some of whose branches have been declared right-wing extremist by German intelligence services. &quot;This party has declared its intention to destroy the CDU. It wants a different country,&quot; Merz said. &quot;It is not just details that separate us. We are separated from the AfD by fundamental issues and fundamental political convictions.&quot;&nbsp;&lsquo;Wants to destroy us&rsquo;Referring to offers of collaboration from the party, Merz said, &quot;the hand that the AfD repeatedly extends is in reality a hand that wants to destroy us&quot;. The AfD last year became the first far-right party to win a regional election in Germany since the Nazis, in the eastern state of Thuringia. One survey for the Bild newspaper on Sunday put the AfD at 27% of voting intentions at the national level, ahead of Merz&#39;s CDU/CSU at 25%. Germany&#39;s mainstream political parties have long maintained a &quot;firewall&quot; against cooperation with the AfD.

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Says the AfD will be the "main opponent" of his conservative CDU/CSU alliance at state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Berlin in 2026.

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Germany's Merz vows to take on ascendant far-right AfD

Germany's Merz vows to take on ascendant far-right AfD