Senior German liberal says Scholz's government 'lost its legitimacy'

The deputy leader of Germany's free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP), Wolfgang Kubicki, said Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition government has "lost its legitimacy" in light of poor results in a pair of state elections on Sunday.

The FDP is part of Scholz's coalition, and is projected for a terrible showing of around just 1% in both Thuringia and Saxony, based on initial results and exit polls. That will leave the party without any seats in either state parliament.

People have the impression that "this coalition is damaging the country," Kubicki said of the national government in a post on X. "And it is definitely damaging the Free Democratic Party."

Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) are projected to hold roughly steady in Saxony but slip in Thuringia, while coalition partners Greens face tough losses in both states.

Taken together, the SPD, Greens and FDP are projected to have only 10.6% of the vote in Thuringia and 13.6% in Saxony, according to the latest projections from public broadcaster ZDF at around 9 pm on Sunday (1900 GMT).