Centre-right leader says Germany's democracy is facing tough test

Fractured politics and the rise of populist parties means Germany's democracy is facing its "toughest test in recent decades," conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz said on Saturday.

Merz, the leader of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), referred to a chaotic political stalemate in the central German state of Thuringia, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) made breakthrough gains in a September 1 election and took more than a third of seats in the state parliament.

In Thuringia, the CDU is now struggling to put together a governing majority in the deeply divided parliament with other parties, including the upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).

Gridlock in Thuringia is "just a small foretaste" of what could come elsewhere in Germany in the near future, Merz told fellow party members at a gathering in the western German city of Münster.

Merz appealed to the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP) to defend democracy during next year's national elections even as each party campaigns hard.

Despite deep political differences, the parties must show "that cooperation, collaboration and standing together are possible in the broad democratic centre of our country," Merz said.

"We will not let these people destroy our democracy in Germany," Merz said.