German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to remain in office after his Christian Democratic Union suffered damaging results in elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, intensifying pressure on his leadership after another major setback two weeks earlier in Saxony-Anhalt.
Merz described the CDU's performance in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as a "disaster" while insisting that his coalition government would continue pursuing economic, tax and welfare reforms.
Preliminary projections put the Alternative für Deutschland ahead in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with nearly 38% of the vote, more than doubling its previous result and giving it the largest vote share in the state for the first time.
The centre-left SPD was projected at about 36%, while the CDU stood at roughly 5%, leaving it only just above the threshold required to enter the state parliament.
Despite the AfD's first-place showing, other parties' refusal to cooperate with it means the party is unlikely to govern the state.
The result continued a difficult sequence for the CDU after its vote was halved in Saxony-Anhalt two weeks earlier, where the AfD secured 44%.
Merz said Germany faced profound economic upheaval and increasingly confrontational public discourse, arguing that reforms were necessary to strengthen the country.
In Berlin, Die Linke was projected to finish first with about 25% to 26% of the vote, ahead of the governing CDU at approximately 20%.
The AfD was also projected to make gains in the capital, receiving around 16%.
The results add to speculation over Merz's political future, although leaders of eight German states backed him earlier in the week.
Merz said he would remain both chancellor and CDU chairman and continue reforms covering taxes, healthcare, pensions and bureaucracy.
AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla called on Merz to resign following his party's performance.
About 2.5 million people were eligible to vote in Berlin and nearly 1.3 million in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with final results expected after the preliminary projections.