Germany's political center fights for relevance after far-right and far-left gains

German Chancellor and leader of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union Friedrich Merz leaves after a press conference one day after state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, at the CDU's headquarters in Berlin on Sept. 21. JENS SCHLUETER/AFP via Getty Images hide caption JENS SCHLUETER/AFP via Getty Images BERLIN — Berlin's markets brim with the rich pickings of harvest. Picking up her weekly shopping, pensioner Ute Istock quips that the choice of apple varieties is as broad as that of candidates on the ballot sheets in last month's city election — adding that this is not necessarily a good thing. "Voting has become tricky," Istock admits. "It's no longer clear how a party will end up governing effectively because there are too many parties and forming viable majorities is becoming impossible." Germany's political center is fighting for relevance after recent electoral gains for the far-right and the far-left. Istock reveals she voted for the far-left Die Linke party for the first time because she feels the centrist parties are out of touch. "Voters no longer feel represented by the political center," she says. "This is why we're voting in such a confr...