In Tuesday’s edition of the daily newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Horst Seehofer, the Bavarian state premier and leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), said Sunday’s “disastrous” election result was a effect of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy.
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“It is pathetic when a party – in which xenophobia, antisemitism, racism, homophobia, historical denialism and conspiracy theories are the basis for argument – can become such a strong social and political influence”, Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, was quoted by The Local as saying about the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which beat German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party and came in second behind the Social Democratic party in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state elections.
Merkel defended her government’s handling of the refugee crisis on Monday, vowing to “win back trust” from German voters.
With a federal election just a year away, Merkel’s ratings have fallen to a five-year low since opening German borders to about a million migrants last year and then championing a disputed EU-Turkey deal to solve the crisis.
“So far, Merkel has declined to commit to standing again for the role of chancellor in next year’s general election …”
Merkel, chancellor for almost 11 years, on Monday took responsibility for the state election result but stood by her migrant policy.
While her welcoming stance initially won much praise, the mood has since darkened as popular worries have grown about how to integrate the newcomers. As it stands, the AfD has no realistic chance of going into government.
He said the state election disaster was a result of failing to draw the right conclusions after losses in other regional votes this year.
The CDU garnered 19 percent of the vote – its worst ever score in the ex-communist state, which is also home to Merkel’s parliamentary constituency.
It has grown strongly even as its top members have sparked outrage with insulting remarks, including one disparaging star footballer Jerome Boateng, of mixed German and Ghanaian descent.
“Apparently many voters don’t realise, or tacitly accept, that the AfD. has failed to clearly distance itself from the far-right”, he said.
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At national level, the AfD is now polling at 14 percent, a gain of 10 points in the year since Merkel threw open German borders to a mass influx of asylum seekers.
