The CDU received 27.2% of the vote in district-level elections across the state, ahead of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) with 24.6%.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) finished third with 15.9%, more than tripling its 4.6% showing in the 2021 local elections.
The Greens received 14.1%, while the Left Party secured 6%. The liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) finished with 3.7%.
Voter turnout reached 64.6%, up from 57% in 2021.
The elections determined representatives for more than 2,000 local bodies across Lower Saxony, including district, city and municipal councils. Numerous mayoral and district administrator races were also held.
Four AfD candidates seeking senior local offices were barred from standing before the election over doubts about their commitment to Germany’s constitutional democratic order.
Lower Saxony’s domestic intelligence service has placed the state AfD branch under heightened surveillance over evidence of activities directed against Germany’s free democratic constitutional order.
The result comes a week after the AfD won a state election in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, dealing a major defeat to Merz’s CDU.
Following that result, Merz described the shift in Germany’s political landscape as “tectonic” and acknowledged that his party had suffered a “dramatic defeat.”
The AfD has also been leading pre-election polling in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where another state election is approaching.
The Lower Saxony result therefore provides some relief for Merz and the CDU, although the sharp rise in support for the AfD underscores the continuing pressure on Germany’s traditional parties.