On Sunday, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania held state elections, with AfD winning 21 percent of the vote, knocking Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) party into third place with 19 percent.
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In a shocking upheaval, a state election held on Sunday showed that support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats party has plummeted amid rising support for the anti-immigration movement.
Top candidate Leif-Erik Holm and Alexander Gauland of the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) react after first exit polls during the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election at the party post election venue in Schwerin, Germany, September 4.
“I have not the impression that she wants to give up”, said Brok, a CDU lawmaker in the European Parliament and member of the party’s executive.
The chancellor, who was attending a G20 summit in China, once again strongly defended her policy towards the refugee crisis on Monday, saying, “I consider the fundamental decisions as right”.
National AfD leader Frauke Petry celebrated “a blow to Angela Merkel”. The Deputy Leader of the party Beatrix von Storch said, “This is what we probably call the beginning of the end of Angel Merkel’s Chancellorship”.
His Bavarian state-based CSU is now annoyed with its CDU sister party as they believe Mrs Merkel needs to stop flying around the world and pay more attention to domestic politics.
But the chancellor, whose towering approval ratings had long carried her party to victories at the polls over the last 11 years, has suddenly turned into a liability amid a frightening fall in support. Germany registered more than one million people as asylum-seekers a year ago.
After a series of attacks by asylum-seekers in July – including two claimed by Daesh (the so-called IS) – the mood has also darkened. But, she said, “fear can not be a counsel for political action”.
“Right now, the chancellor is not hitting the right tone in nearly all the areas that most concern her voters: refugees, Europe, public safety”, wrote Gabor Steingart, the publisher of the main business daily Handelsblatt, which has been among her strongest critics. The Social Democrats, who have governed the state since 1998, won with 30.6 percent.
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Germany’s Central Council of Jews voiced satisfaction at that development, but also concern about AfD. Considered political outsiders that mainstream parties are unlikely to work with, the AfD lacks a strong national machine and would probably face a hard time forming a ruling coalition even if it scored big in a national vote.
