A senior figure in Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union has said he will hold talks with the leftwing Die Linke to resolve a political impasse in the east German region of Thuringia, leading to howls of protest in his own party.

The right-of-centre CDU has a longstanding policy of shunning coalitions with Die Linke, which has its roots in the former East German Communist Party, as well as with the far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD).

But there is pressure on the CDU to rethink its ban in the light of Sunday’s inconclusive elections in Thuringia, which left the region facing political stalemate.

The poll was won by Die Linke, whose local leader Bodo Ramelow, Thuringia’s prime minister, is the region’s most popular politician. But his governing coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens no longer commands a majority in the regional parliament.

All Germany’s centrist parties — not just the CDU but the SPD, liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens — performed poorly. “For the first time in Germany’s postwar history, CDU, SPD, FDP and Greens no longer have a majority in a parliament,” said Friedrich Merz, an influential conservative in the CDU.

The election result was a disaster for the CDU, which was pushed into third place behind Die Linke and the AfD. It was the Christian Democrats’ worst ever result in the region, which it ruled for 24 of the past 29 years and long considered a stronghold.

Earlier on Monday, Mike Mohring, the CDU’s leader in Thuringia, caused consternation in his party by appearing to entertain the idea of a coalition with Die Linke.

Asked on the German TV channel ARD whether he would contemplate teaming up with the socialists, Mr Mohring said “stability in the region is more important to me than party-political interests”.

But the CDU hierarchy in Berlin quickly intervened to close off such an eventuality. National leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the party’s ban on co-operation with both the AfD and Die Linke “still holds true” and was “beyond dispute”.

Carsten Linnemann, a senior conservative in the CDU, expressed anger at the idea of a rapprochement with Die Linke, saying the Christian Democrats had to “show some attitude”. “Otherwise we just turn into a karaoke party that tries to be all things to all people,” he added.

Mr Mohring later walked back from his earlier comments, saying he merely wanted to hold exploratory talks with Mr Ramelow. “It is about accepting an offer of talks and not rejecting it at the outset,” he said.

Mr Mohring’s overture to Die Linke came after an election that highlighted how polarised German politics have become.

The rise of the AfD, whose support surged in the aftermath of the 2015-16 refugee crisis and the influx of more than 1m migrants into Germany, has massively disrupted the German political system and made it much harder for centrist parties, which all refuse to work with the populists, to form viable coalitions.

Parties that once enjoyed absolute majorities in the regions are being forced into three-party coalitions with their ideological foes. But in Thuringia, even that will not be enough.

According to preliminary results, the CDU slumped to just 22 per cent of the vote, down 12 percentage points on 2014, while their coalition partner in Berlin, the left-of-centre Social Democrats, fell 4 points to 8 per cent.

Meanwhile Die Linke rose 3 points to 31 per cent, its best ever result in a regional election. The AfD more than doubled its vote from 10.6 to 23.4 per cent.

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The AfD’s result marks a huge victory for Björn Höcke, the AfD’s leader in Thuringia, who is one of Germany’s most controversial politicians. A nationalist firebrand, he is a senior figure in the “Wing”, a hardline faction of the AfD that is particularly strong in eastern Germany, and could grow in influence as a consequence of Sunday’s election.

With his “red-red-green” coalition now without a majority, Mr Ramelow, a former trade unionist, must seek other partners if he is to remain in power.

One option being discussed is for the CDU to “tolerate” a Linke-led minority government, in an arrangement that has parallels with the recent “confidence and supply” deal between the DUP and the UK Conservatives.

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