Far-right AfD hurts Merkel's CDU in German state vote

By Paul Carrel and Tassilo Hummel

 

FILE PHOTO: Bjoern Hoecke, AfD party leader and top candidate for Thuringia, speaks during an election campaign rally ahead of the upcoming Thuringia state elections in Gotha, Germany October 23, 2019. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) beat Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives into third place in Sunday's regional election in the eastern state of Thuringia, in which the incumbent far-left Linke came first, an exit poll showed.

 

The result follows the AfD's successes in the eastern states of Saxony and Brandenburg, where it surged into second place in Sept. 1 elections, and marks a setback for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).

 

The Linke won 29.7% of the vote, the results forecast by broadcaster ARD showed. The AfD won 23.8%, the CDU 22.5%, the Social Democrats (SPD) 8.5%, the Greens 5.4% and the Free Democrats 5.0%. The result will make coalition building tricky.

 

After gaining seats in the national parliament for the first time in 2017, the AfD is trying to build momentum in the east and campaigned in Thuringia for "Wende", adopting the word used to describe the fall of East German Communism.

 

"Thuringians have voted for the Wende 2.0," Bjoern Hoecke, the AfD's leader in the state, said after the exit poll was released, in a "drain the swamp"-style pitch.

 

"This is a clear sign that a large part of Thuringia says: This can't go on. We need renewal -- this should be taken seriously," Hoecke, an anti-immigrant former history teacher, told ARD.

 

POLITICAL POLARISATION

Both the CDU and SPD, which rule together in an awkward 'grand coalition' at national level, lost votes from the last regional election in Thuringia in 2014.

 

The AfD more than doubled its share of the vote and the Linke edged up, reflecting the polarisation of state politics in which the two parties on the far left and right of the political spectrum performed most strongly.

 

"At the geographical heart of Germany, even all centrist parties combined would still lack a majority," Carsten Nickel, managing director at consultancy Teneo, said of the result, which marked a "difficult evening" for CDU leaders in Berlin.

 

"In light of another strong showing from the far-right, the CDU debate about the right path into the post-Merkel world will certainly continue," Nickel added.

 

Almost a year after the CDU voted her their leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has failed to stamp her authority on the party and members are debating whether she is the right person to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor.

 

Bodo Ramelow, who became the Linke's first state premier in 2014 when he teamed up with the SPD and ecologist Greens in Thuringia, told ARD: "I see myself clearly strengthened. My party clearly has the mandate to govern, and I will take it up."

 

But Sunday's exit poll showed that such a red-red-green, or R2G, combination would not command a majority, meaning Ramelow would probably have to form another coalition to remain state premier.

 

None of the parties want to go into coalition with the AfD. One of a number of nationalist movements making waves across Europe, the AfD is the third-largest party in Germany's federal legislature behind the CDU and the centre-left SPD.

 

Hoecke has drawn criticism from Jewish leaders and mainstream politicians for calling Berlin's Holocaust memorial a "monument of shame" and demanding that schools highlight German suffering in World War Two.

 

Hoecke's ultra-right stance is tearing at AfD unity. His drive to pull the party further to the right has alarmed more moderate members aware that his fiercely anti-immigrant stance is unlikely to gain traction with voters in western Germany.

 

In July, scores of senior AfD members condemned Hoecke's rising influence. The fight for the future direction of the AfD is expected to come to a head at a party conference in December.

 

(Editing by Douglas Busvine and Catherine Evans)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-28

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Populism on the rise everywhere , that's worrying . Germany needs immigrants to do the jobs Germans not want to do , and working immigrants pay in the german social security system , what benefits the germans as well .

1 hour ago, nobodysfriend said:

Populism on the rise everywhere , that's worrying . Germany needs immigrants to do the jobs Germans not want to do , and working immigrants pay in the german social security system , what benefits the germans as well .

"Germany needs immigrants..."

How many do they need?

...and at what point do the problems caused by mass immigration outweigh the benefits?

1 hour ago, nobodysfriend said:

Populism on the rise everywhere , that's worrying . Germany needs immigrants to do the jobs Germans not want to do , and working immigrants pay in the german social security system , what benefits the germans as well .

Trouble is most of the immigrants dont work , just take .

"q" the usual posters who say we need more 

Just now, bert bloggs said:

Trouble is most of the immigrants dont work , just take .

That's utter B.S.

EU Migration Has Been Good For The German Economy

And yesterday came another positive, but different, economic metric from a major EU country, as the German Institute for Economic Research (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, or DIW) released research finding EU immigration had boosted Germany’s GDP growth by an average of 0.2% every year between 2011 and 2016. GDP is a measurement of a country’s productivity, or how much stuff it makes. Again, this does not mean the average German has found 0.2% more euros in their pocket than they had the previous year, but it is a strong rebuke to those that say EU migration is a dragging force on developed EU economies.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2018/11/01/vorsprung-durch-einwanderung-eu-migration-has-been-good-for-the-german-economy/#3f56f33c5c99

Why is anything more balanced than the lunatic liberal left described as far right? The AfD are not far right, they are just right.

3 minutes ago, UnkleGoooose said:

Why is anything more balanced than the lunatic liberal left described as far right? The AfD are not far right, they are just right.

"Hoecke has drawn criticism from Jewish leaders and mainstream politicians for calling Berlin's Holocaust memorial a "monument of shame" and demanding that schools highlight German suffering in World War Two."

17 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

Trouble is most of the immigrants dont work , just take .

"q" the usual posters who say we need more 

Link to data backing up this assertion.

1 minute ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Link to data backing up this assertion.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-and-immigration-the-changing-face-of-the-country-a-1203143.html

16 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

That's utter B.S.

EU Migration Has Been Good For The German Economy

And yesterday came another positive, but different, economic metric from a major EU country, as the German Institute for Economic Research (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, or DIW) released research finding EU immigration had boosted Germany’s GDP growth by an average of 0.2% every year between 2011 and 2016. GDP is a measurement of a country’s productivity, or how much stuff it makes. Again, this does not mean the average German has found 0.2% more euros in their pocket than they had the previous year, but it is a strong rebuke to those that say EU migration is a dragging force on developed EU economies.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2018/11/01/vorsprung-durch-einwanderung-eu-migration-has-been-good-for-the-german-economy/#3f56f33c5c99

For every one of your pro take over links, there are equally as many sensible ones.

 

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-and-immigration-the-changing-face-of-the-country-a-1203143.html

 

This one was at least written by Germans.

2 minutes ago, UnkleGoooose said:

For every one of your pro take over links, there are equally as many sensible ones.

 

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-and-immigration-the-changing-face-of-the-country-a-1203143.html

 

This one was at least written by Germans.

I've read and there's nothing in it that supports the AFD. In fact, there's this:

"One indication of how deeply the anger and rage are simmering in many people is the dangerous power of the conspiracy theory which holds that the chancellor, together with other sinister powers, is planning to swap out the ethnic German population and replace it with foreigners. Michael Butter, a professor of American Studies at the University of Tübingen, who is also an expert in conspiracy theories, says it is currently one of the most popular conspiracy theories circulating in Germany right now."

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-and-immigration-the-changing-face-of-the-country-a-1203143.html

40 minutes ago, UnkleGoooose said:

https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-and-immigration-the-changing-face-of-the-country-a-1203143.html

An interesting article.

 

But it doesn’t back up Bert blogg’s assertion.

1 hour ago, UnkleGoooose said:

Why is anything more balanced than the lunatic liberal left described as far right? The AfD are not far right, they are just right.

Is that why a court ruled, you are allowed to Hoecke, what he is!

A fascist and a Nazi?

Hoecke always reminds me of the Nazi when he talks. Scary. Hopefully he never gets powerful. 

4 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Populism on the rise everywhere , that's worrying . Germany needs immigrants to do the jobs Germans not want to do , and working immigrants pay in the german social security system , what benefits the germans as well .

If they work and pay their part to the social securuty system that would be ok - but 

most immigrants in Germany do not work and do not pay in the security system.

The opposite is true: they get paid by the tax payer and live for free and are not interested in integration instead they try to make Germany a part of their world

6 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

If they work and pay their part to the social securuty system that would be ok - but 

most immigrants in Germany do not work and do not pay in the security system.

The opposite is true: they get paid by the tax payer and live for free and are not interested in integration instead they try to make Germany a part of their world

Follow link on post #6 to acquaint yourself with the facts.

3 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Follow link on post #6 to acquaint yourself with the facts.

The article is talking about intra EU immigration. But the majority of immigrants to Germany are not from EU but from the Near East muslim countries

Nearly 25% elected this far right party in a province with only a few immigrants. Eastern Germany has generally less immigrants than western Germany but in the west they vote much less for the far rights. Strange. Ok, the economy in the eastern part of Germany is worse than in the west (many mistakes have been made from the German government) but it doesn´t help to vote for these ultra right idiots. At the end everybody will lose.

55 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

The article is talking about intra EU immigration. But the majority of immigrants to Germany are not from EU but from the Near East muslim countries

a) in their first few months in Germany, they are not ALLOWED to work!

b) please bring the citations for your total and utter right wing BS!

Thank you!

1 hour ago, sweatalot said:

The article is talking about intra EU immigration. But the majority of immigrants to Germany are not from EU but from the Near East muslim countries

I'll say this for you. You're very inventive.

Number of migrants in Germany hits record high

 

More people with foreign citizenship live in Germany than ever before, the Federal Statistics Office said on Thursday, putting the 10.6 million record figure down to an influx of people seeking asylum and migrants from other European Union countries...

 

More than 1.6 million people seeking asylum, mainly from Middle Eastern and African countries, have entered Germany since 2014, weakening Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives who lost voters to a far-right party in an election last year.

 

But the Statistics Office said that the rise in the number of foreigners living in Germany was mainly because of an influx of people from other EU states, especially from eastern members that have joined the bloc since 2004.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-germany-immigration/number-of-migrants-in-germany-hits-record-high-idUKKBN1HJ2BQ

 

1 hour ago, CNXexpat said:

Nearly 25% elected this far right party in a province with only a few immigrants. Eastern Germany has generally less immigrants than western Germany but in the west they vote much less for the far rights. Strange. Ok, the economy in the eastern part of Germany is worse than in the west (many mistakes have been made from the German government) but it doesn´t help to vote for these ultra right idiots. At the end everybody will lose.

It's actually the same in the USA where areas the supported Trump most strongly had the lowest percentage of immigrants, documented and undocumented.

3 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

Nearly 25% elected this far right party in a province with only a few immigrants. Eastern Germany has generally less immigrants than western Germany but in the west they vote much less for the far rights. Strange. Ok, the economy in the eastern part of Germany is worse than in the west (many mistakes have been made from the German government) but it doesn´t help to vote for these ultra right idiots. At the end everybody will lose.

Unlike Western Germany the former East Germany was never subjected to the extensive re education programs to purge Nazi propaganda from their society.

 

29 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Unlike Western Germany the former East Germany was never subjected to the extensive re education programs to purge Nazi propaganda from their society.

 

And yet the FAR LEFT won against right and CDU, and they are the real wons who beat the CDU.

Jouranlists like to spin it how they want anyway...

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Unlike Western Germany the former East Germany was never subjected to the extensive re education programs to purge Nazi propaganda from their society.

 

They had over decades the communist propaganda. But on the other side, Germany is reunited since 2 decades. 

15 hours ago, bristolboy said:

That's utter B.S.

EU Migration Has Been Good For The German Economy

And yesterday came another positive, but different, economic metric from a major EU country, as the German Institute for Economic Research (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, or DIW) released research finding EU immigration had boosted Germany’s GDP growth by an average of 0.2% every year between 2011 and 2016. GDP is a measurement of a country’s productivity, or how much stuff it makes. Again, this does not mean the average German has found 0.2% more euros in their pocket than they had the previous year, but it is a strong rebuke to those that say EU migration is a dragging force on developed EU economies.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2018/11/01/vorsprung-durch-einwanderung-eu-migration-has-been-good-for-the-german-economy/#3f56f33c5c99

They,'ve never had it so good.

13 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

Nearly 25% elected this far right party in a province with only a few immigrants. Eastern Germany has generally less immigrants than western Germany but in the west they vote much less for the far rights. Strange. Ok, the economy in the eastern part of Germany is worse than in the west (many mistakes have been made from the German government) but it doesn´t help to vote for these ultra right idiots. At the end everybody will lose.

You  might rightly view them as"right wing idiots"however if they get more votes than their opposition they will get power,learn from your mistakes.

6 minutes ago, kingdong said:

You  might rightly view them as"right wing idiots"however if they get more votes than their opposition they will get power,learn from your mistakes.

Especially in this province, they are more than "right wing idiots", they are Nazis. And they "only" got 24%. In Western Germany they got between 5 and 10% at elections. 

 

5 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

Especially in this province, they are more than "right wing idiots", they are Nazis. And they "only" got 24%. In Western Germany they got between 5 and 10% at elections. 

 

 

5 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

Especially in this province, they are more than "right wing idiots", they are Nazis. And they "only" got 24%. In Western Germany they got between 5 and 10% at elections. 

 

Made a general statement,at the end of the day it's your country,up to you.unlike a lot of posters I try not to stick my oar in other countries affairs,good luck.

25 minutes ago, kingdong said:

 

Made a general statement,at the end of the day it's your country,up to you.unlike a lot of posters I try not to stick my oar in other countries affairs,good luck.

Because of the scandal it might create?