Merkel’s CDU beaten into third place by anti-migrant AFD – exit poll

[webfact]

Merkel’s CDU beaten into third place by anti-migrant AFD – exit poll

 

 

BERLIN: -- An exit poll suggests Angela Merkel’s CDU has lost out to the anti-migrant, anti-Islam AFD in a state election in north eastern Germany.

 

Putting the Socialist SPD on 30.5% of the vote, the poll says the AFD are on track to get 21% leaving the German Chancellor’s party on 19%.

 

The poll in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania is being seen as a test of the German Chancellor’s migrant and refugee policies.

 

A loss could mean Merkel will go into national elections next year in a weaker position.

 

The national vote is expected in September 2017.

 

Sunday’s ballot is the first of five state votes due before then.

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-09-05

[webfact]

Nationalists overtake Merkel's party in German state vote 
GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press

 

BERLIN (AP) — A nationalist, anti-immigration party performed strongly in a state election Sunday in the region where German Chancellor Angela Merkel has her political base, overtaking her conservatives to take second place amid discontent with her migrant policies.

 

The three-year-old Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won 20.8 percent of votes in the election for the state legislature in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Merkel's Christian Democrats polled 19 percent, their worst result yet in the state.

 

The center-left Social Democrats, who led the outgoing state government in a coalition with the conservatives, remained the strongest party with 30.6 percent support.

 

Economically weak Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in Germany's northeastern corner, is home to 1.6 million of the country's 80 million people and is a relative political lightweight. It is, however, the state where Merkel has her parliamentary constituency, and Sunday's regional vote was the first of five before a national election expected next September.

 

National AfD leader Frauke Petry celebrated "a blow to Angela Merkel." Local AfD leader Leif-Erik Holm told supporters: "Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of Angela Merkel's chancellorship today."

 

Merkel's refugee policies were a prominent issue in the campaign for Sunday's election, which came a year to the day after she decided to let in migrants who were waiting in Hungary to travel to Germany — setting off the peak of last year's influx. Germany registered more than 1 million people as asylum-seekers last year.

 

New arrivals have slowed drastically this year, policies have been tightened and Mecklenburg is home to few foreigners. Still, New Year's Eve robberies and sexual assaults in Germany blamed largely on foreigners, as well as two attacks in July carried out by asylum-seekers and claimed by the Islamic State group, have fed tensions.

 

Merkel has stuck to her insistence that "we will manage" the refugee crisis, and has also said that "sometimes you have to endure such controversies."

 

"This result, and the strong performance of AfD, is bitter for many, for everyone in our party," said Peter Tauber, her Christian Democrats' general secretary.

 

He said the state government's positive record took a back seat for many voters, "because among a recognizable part, there was an explicit wish to voice displeasure and protest, and we saw that particularly strongly in the discussion about refugees."

 

Sunday's result could make it more difficult for Merkel to bury a festering dispute with the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian arm of her conservative bloc, which has long criticized her decision to open the borders and advocated an annual cap on migrants.

 

CSU general secretary Andreas Scheuer said that "we feel vindicated in our course."

 

Merkel has yet to say whether she will seek a fourth term next year, as is widely expected. While polls this year have shown her popularity slipping from stellar to merely solid, there is no obvious conservative alternative and her bloc is ahead nationally.

 

"She is, in people's perception, personally responsible for the border opening, and she has to deal with that," political science professor Karl-Rudolf Korte told ZDF television. "But she can deal with it — she has a year."

 

Mecklenburg was the only one of Germany's 16 states where the far-right National Democratic Party was represented in a state legislature, but it lost its seats on Sunday. Its support dropped below the 5 percent needed to keep them, with many supporters switching to AfD.

 

The state has been run for the past decade by the parties that currently govern Germany. Popular Social Democratic governor Erwin Sellering has governed with Merkel's party as his junior partner. Both parties lost support compared with the last state election in 2011, when they polled 35.6 and 23 percent, respectively.

 

The opposition Left Party — once popular with protest voters — also lost support, slipping five points to 13.2 percent. The left-leaning Greens dropped just under 5 percent and lost their seats.

 

AfD is now represented in nine of Germany's 16 state legislatures and hopes to enter the national Parliament next year. Still, it fell short Sunday of its aim of becoming the strongest party in Mecklenburg, and also didn't match the 24.3 percent support it won in another eastern state, Saxony-Anhalt, in March.

 

There's no realistic prospect at present of AfD going into government. Other parties won't deal with it.

 

The next regional election is Sept. 18 in Berlin, where local issues are likely to play a stronger role.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-09-05

[Caps]

Wake up and smell the coffee Merkel, people are getting fed up of your stupid immigration policies

[canopus1969]

Well done the Nationalists, about time people woke up to this disease which is slowly swallowing up the West

[mesterm]

And there are people who will claim most Germans support mass immigration of Muslims.

[mokwit]

 

Merkel can spend her retirement keeping open house and cooking* for all those people she personally invited. Put the "wir" into Wir schaffen das, eh Angela? Can't have a 'Wir' if you are not part of the 'we'

 

*I hope she is a good cook as they are always complaining about the food (amongst other things not to their standards)

[maximillian]

Not only 'cause of the refugee crisis: Merkel is not good for the country. She is devoted to Big Business, Banks, Insurance companies, NATO, US, CETA, TTIP, not to her own country, not to her own people. A person without a backbone. But not much better is her vice chancellor Gabriel or the Greens.

Now the German fools are still giving them more than 50 % of their votes. Not that I think the AfD is ant better.

[Dustdevil]

26 minutes ago, mokwit said:

 

Merkel can spend her retirement keeping open house and cooking* for all those people she personally invited. Put the "wir" into Wir schaffen das, eh Angela? Can't have a 'Wir' if you are not part of the 'we'

 

*I hope she is a good cook as they are always complaining about the food (amongst other things not to their standards)

They will demand that she cover her hair and cook them a big Syrian dinner

[Dustdevil]

3 minutes ago, maximillian said:

Not only 'cause of the refugee crisis: Merkel is not good for the country. She is devoted to Big Business, Banks, Insurance companies, NATO, US, CETA, TTIP, not to her own country, not to her own people. A person without a backbone. But not much better is her vice chancellor Gabriel or the Greens.

Now the German fools are still giving them more than 50 % of their votes. Not that I think the AfD is ant better.

Well, many people have jobs in big business, not to mention the other entities you mentioned. Oh--and Big Crooks Volkswagen...took US regulators to find the cheating emissions software. What's up with that?

[DM07]

39 minutes ago, mesterm said:

And there are people who will claim most Germans support mass immigration of Muslims.

Well...technically 79% do! Which seems to be the majority!

 

[mokwit]

If she cooked a Syrian dinner most of them would complain about being forced to eat foreign food (coz most aren't really Syrian and only 47 out of 1.8m documented were claiming to be Doctors - so that leaves 1,799,953 "engineers")

[mesterm]

2 minutes ago, DM07 said:

Well...technically 79% do! Which seems to be the majority!

 

These are results from where she has her political base, by the way. So let's see.

[DM07]

Her political base was the GDR, which is non-existent anymore!

Apples and oranges!

[SgtRock]

19 minutes ago, DM07 said:

Her political base was the GDR, which is non-existent anymore!

Apples and oranges!

 

Really ?

 

Quote

This is humiliating for Angela Merkel - not least because this was on home turf. Mrs Merkel's constituency is in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37271971

 

 Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, has the 3rd lowest immigration rates in Germany. So much for your 79% that support mass immigration.

[thai3]

Germany is a great country and they deserve better than a traitor like Merkel leading them down the path to Islamifcation and loss of their culture.

Edited September 5, 2016 by thai3

[Rancid]

You mean all those TV shots of people holding signs expressing love for Muslims, offering their homes and demanding more immigration no longer reflect the actual will of the people? Who would have ever imagined there would be a change of heart after witnessing first hand all the benefits said Muslim immigration brings.

[halloween]

If, in at least on state, the SD can raise 30% and the AfD nearly 21, it's not hard to imagine a coalition which accepts some of the AfD's core policies.

[Agent Sumo]

Predictable outcome, I'm sorry to say.

 

The rise of nationalism will cause more problems than it solves.

 

Merkel's  intentions are good but her execution sucks

[trainman34014]

According to my German mates here she is living on borrowed time.  Next years General Election will see the back of her and she will go down as the Politician who made  the biggest gaff in European Political history.

Edited September 5, 2016 by trainman34014
Word repeat.

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, Rancid said:

You mean all those TV shots of people holding signs expressing love for Muslims, offering their homes and demanding more immigration no longer reflect the actual will of the people? Who would have ever imagined there would be a change of heart after witnessing first hand all the benefits said Muslim immigration brings.

 

All of the main German political parties have stated they will not enter into coalitions with the AfD.

 

Some dweeb at the EU in Brussels also announced that should the AfD ever be elected into office then the EU would refuse to work with them. Similar to the sentiment of the German minister who said elections  can't be allowed to change things.

 

Not long before "only approved EU" political parties  allowed to stand - like the CDU with their ex-communist youth leader who had connections to the Stassi.

 

EU Democracy - not quite most people's idea of democracy.

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

According to my German mates here she is living on borrowed time.  Next years General Election will see the back of her and she will go down as the Politician who made  the biggest gaff in European Political history.

 

At the last election most of my German friends said she won as the best of a bad bunch of alternatives. 

 

Looks like she's blew even that chance now, thankfully. 

[SgtRock]

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

According to my German mates here she is living on borrowed time.  Next years General Election will see the back of her and she will go down as the Politician who made  the biggest gaff in European Political history.

 

She might be gone after the next regional election on the 18 September 

[elgordo38]

5 hours ago, Caps said:

Wake up and smell the coffee Merkel, people are getting fed up of your stupid immigration policies

This woman has committed political hari kari. I think it is all part of a well orchestrated plan on her part. Orchestrate defeat dump the problem on others move on collect your fat pension start a consulting service and sell all the connections you have accumulated over the years and collect 10 times more money. Its the same tired old plan that all politicians are using. Curiously Dodgy Dave has been silent on his future endeavors. He must be playing the blushing bride routine willing to be sold to the highest bidder. Forming a "Foundation" is another political racket. Their ambitions and greed know no bounds. Here is the future that I wish for you its from a post further down the page. "Madero chased by pot banging citizens" I  hope you to are reduced to this. You have done untold harm to Germany and the EU

Edited September 5, 2016 by elgordo38

[Prbkk]

A local election of no significance other than as a protest vote: sure, she needs to listen but at the end of day she will be re-elected , with modified policies. All things considered, she has been very good for Germany.

[elgordo38]

1 minute ago, Prbkk said:

A local election of no significance other than as a protest vote: sure, she needs to listen but at the end of day she will be re-elected , with modified policies. All things considered, she has been very good for Germany.

Yes your one of the few that have been assimilated. Good for Germany? elaborate please.

[sweatalot]

41 minutes ago, SgtRock said:

 

She might be gone after the next regional election on the 18 September 

 

Wishful thinking 

[Prbkk]

1 minute ago, elgordo38 said:

Yes your one of the few that have been assimilated. Good for Germany? elaborate please.

 

I agree that the open door policy was ill-conceived however well-intended. A modified refugee policy will see her win the next election.

She has steered the economy very well: Germany is not broke like the rest of mainland Europe. 

[thaibeachlovers]

The revolt starts. Let's see how she does in the real election.

[bridge2bridge]

12 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The revolt starts. Let's see how she does in the real election.

She will be DEMOLISHED.

 

[SgtRock]

45 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

 

Wishful thinking 

 

If the CDU take another hammering on the 18 September, the decision might be taken out of her hands.

 

I do not think there is any wishful thinking about it.