Polls opened in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin under the framing of a verdict on Chancellor Merz. Early coverage cast Schwerin as Schwesig against the AfD and Berlin as a Left-led race about rents and expropriation, noting higher turnout than 2023 and 2021, first-time youth voters in Berlin, and incidents including a smeared polling station in Schöneberg and heckling of CDU candidate Evers.
At 18:00 projections showed the AfD narrowly ahead of Schwesig's SPD in Schwerin and the Left doubling to first place in Berlin well ahead of the CDU. Merz appeared shortly after, labeled the Mecklenburg result a 'Desaster,' took responsibility but refused to resign and promised to continue reforms.
Later projections put the CDU at 4.9% in Schwerin, a historic first ejection from a Landtag, while Berlin papers turned to winner Elif Eralp, a catastrophic SPD result and difficult coalition arithmetic.