In Germany’s east, a rare center-left star looks to stem the far right’s rise

ROSTOCK, Germany — Manuela Schwesig, a popular center-left politician, is within striking distance of stopping the far-right’s advance in the former East Germany. Her success is coming, however, at a steep price for embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the ailing national coalition her party helps sustain. Ahead of an election in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday, Schwesig, the sitting premier of the state and the lead candidate for the left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD), has narrowed the far-right Alternative for Germany’s lead to just a few percentage points in some polls .