In two German state elections on Sunday, roughly 3.8 million voters are rendering a verdict not only on local governance but on the direction of a nation still regarded as Europe's political anchor. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose approval has fallen to 14 percent in just over a year in office, abandoned his seat at the UN General Assembly to manage a crisis that began when the far-right AfD nearly seized an outright majority in Saxony-Anhalt. What unfolds in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will test whether democratic coalitions can hold their ground against a movement that sees reg