The former German chancellor said it was not right to remain silent after her party, the conservative CDU, relied on votes from the far-right AfD to pass a motion in parliament.Germany' s former chancellor Angela Merkel has repeated her criticism of her party leader Friedrich Merz for relying on votes from the far-right AfD to pass a motion in parliament.

Last week, the CDU broke the mainstream parties' so-called firewall of noncooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, as it relied on votes from AfD members in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, to pass a nonbinding vote on tougher border and asylum rules.

The sweat was dripping off Friedrich Merz after the frontrunner to become Germany’s next chancellor saw his bid to outflank an ascendant far right spectacularly backfire in the Bundestag.

Merz drew protests after he put a motion to parliament last week calling for Germany to turn back many more migrants at its borders and it passed narrowly because of support from the AfD

Germany's election frontrunner Friedrich Merz on Monday called on his conservative CDU to "stay the course" after mass protests against its acceptance of far-right AfD support for calls to restrict immigration.