Berlin – Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday rejected calls from some in his party to relax its refusal to deal with the far-right Alternative for Germany, declaring that the still-growing party has nothing in common with his conservatives.

The anti-migration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, finished second in Germany's national election in February. Polls since then have shown its support continuing to grow, with some putting it level with or even ahead of Merz's Union bloc. Merz's nearly 6-month-old governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, meanwhile, has annoyed many voters with public disagreements on a number of issues.

Five of Germany's 16 states hold regional elections next year – including two in the formerly communist east, where AfD is particularly strong and

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