German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will huddle Monday with his CDU party to discuss and digest their thumping defeat at the hands of the far-right AfD party in a state election in the ex-communist east.

The German chancellor rules out working with the AfD even though he concedes its win in Saxony-Anhalt has upset his party’s foundations.

Merz’s CDU suffers historic defeat as AfD falls short of outright majority