Friedrich Merz looks likely to be Germany’s next leader but how will he defuse the AfD?

But the chance at the chancellery Merz has been dreaming of since the 1990s has hit turbulence stemming from the country’s inescapable 20th-century history. Whether and how he can extricate his party from the dilemma posed by last weekend’s bombshell state elections will help determine Germany’s democratic health for years to come in the battle to win back voters from the pro-Russian extremes.