2016-09-19 09:30:00

German Chancellor Merkel's party suffers losses in Berlin poll


(Vatican Radio)  The party of Chancellor Angela Merkel has suffered historic losses in Berlin state elections, while a rising right-wing anti-immigrant party will enter the regional parliament for the first time, amid public anger over her open-door policy towards refugees. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) were ousted from the state governing coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), just weeks after losing an election in another state.

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

However members of the anti-immigrant and European Union skeptic Alternative for Germany Party (AFD) had reasons to celebrate in Berlin.

Preliminary results from Sunday's elections showed they had won over 12 percent of the vote in the state,  enough to secure a presence in Berlin’s regional assembly.

Voters appear to have punished German Chancellor Merkel for allowing some 1.1 million migrants fleeing war and poverty to be registered in Germany, after several other EU countries such as Hungary showed open hostility towards them.

With the count all but completed Merkel's CDU came in second with just over 17 percent, down from 23 percent in 2011, while the SPD was first with 23 percent, much lower than in the previous election.

AFD warning

AFD's State chairman, Georg Pazderski, told supporters that it was the first time in 66 years that a party went zero to double-digits points in Berlin. "With the hands on heart: who would have believed that we could reach such a result," he said. "I had hope, but this outcome is fantastic." He also claimed that the relative high voter turnout was linked to AFD's service.

Pazderkski said the grand coalition had been voted out in Berlin and warned that this would also happen at at the "federal level in national elections next year."

Berlin's city mayor warned that a double-digit score for the anti-immigrant AFD would be seen around the world as the rebirth of the Nazis.

Analysts view the losses for both the biggest parties as a wake-up call for the national government and a sign of further fragmentation of Germany’s political landscape.








All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.