German Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office a year ago vowing to revive the political centre, but the far-right AfD party has risen to the top of the polls while his own coalition's popularity is falling.
The conservative chancellor, who came to power on May 6 last year at the head of a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), had argued that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) could be weakened by effective governance.
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