German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has described his Christian Democratic Union’s (CDU) performance in Sunday’s state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as a “disaster,” after the party suffered its worst-ever result in a state election. The CDU fared better in Berlin, but its result there still appeared to dash its hopes of leading the next government.

The CDU received just 4.9% of the vote, according to the preliminary official result, its worst showing in a state election since the founding of the Federal Republic in 1949. The result leaves the party below the 5% threshold required to enter the regional parliament.

“The result in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania cannot be talked away. It’s a disaster,” Merz acknowledged during a press conference on Sunday evening. However, he defended his government’s course, insisting that there “cannot be a return to the good old times.”