BERLIN (AP) — A one-time rival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has assailed her leadership style, adding to tensions in her center-right party after a dismal state election performance.

Friedrich Merz ran last year to succeed Merkel as leader of her Christian Democratic Union but was narrowly defeated by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. He still has many supporters in the party.

On Sunday, the CDU finished third in an election in Thuringia, a state it once dominated. In an interview Monday night with ZDF television, Merz pointed to the "abysmal" image of Merkel's national government.

Merz said the party is in "a really difficult situation" and said the main reason why is that "the inertia and lack of leadership of the chancellor has been hanging over this country like a blanket of fog for years."