Ms Merkel’s coalition partners ,as well as Germany’s press, are putting the blame on the Chancellor after her unprecedented defeat in Sunday’s elections.
After the CDU’s electoral defeat in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, tensions in the CDU-CSU union have intensified. Bavarian State Premier Horst Seehofer has blamed Merkel’s refugee policy for the AfD’s success.

He told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the situation for the conservatives is “highly threatening”. He was quoted as complaining that his “repeated demand for a change of course” on migrant policy hadn’t been heeded and said Sunday’s “disastrous” result was a consequence.
Germany’s press is also putting the blame on Angela Merkel for the defeat while the Chancellor, who is in China for the G20 summit, said she was “very unhappy” with the election result. “Everyone now needs to think about how we can win back trust – most of all, of course, myself,” she said.
The press is also harsh on her. “How many more electoral disasters can Merkel take?” wonders tabloid Bild, predicting that opposition to the chancellor inside her conservative bloc could erupt with full force.
A piece in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung predicts an “autumn of discontent” for the chancellor, while Die Welt thinks many of her long-standing critics will now “break cover” and “let rip”.
Der Spiegel believes while the election is a “debacle” for Mrs Merkel, her job is not on the line quite yet. And Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung argues that voters are angry at “(almost) all” mainstream parties, and not just the Christian Democrats, mainly over globalisation and “compromise-based politics”.
How the parties polled:
• SPD (centre-left Social Democrats): 30.6%
• AfD: 20.8%
• CDU: 19%, its worst ever showing in the state