Tag: Germany AfD election win

Germany’s far right Alternative for Germany party has delivered another blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government, winning the northeastern state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern with about 38 percent of the vote in elections held on Sunday, just two weeks after a historic breakthrough in Saxony Anhalt. Merz’s Christian Democratic Union crashed below the 5 percent threshold required for parliamentary representation in the state, a result the Chancellor himself described as a disaster and the party’s worst showing in its history in the region. The result leaves the Social Democratic Party, led by popular state premier Manuela Schwesig, trailing the AfD narrowly with about 36.5 percent, as the two parties fought the main battle for control of the state while the CDU was reduced to a bystander. In a separate election held the same day in Berlin, the far left Die Linke party topped the poll with roughly 25 percent, defeating the ruling CDU which managed about 19 to 20 percent, with Die Linke’s lead candidate, Elif Eralp, declaring that love and justice had triumphed over hatred in the capital. The AfD also made gains in Berlin, rising to around 13.5 percent from 9.1 percent in the last state election in 2023, a result observers say signals growing far right support even in Germany’s most cosmopolitan city. AfD co leader Alice Weidel celebrated the outcome, declaring her party the new people’s party in Germany and insisting that the CDU could not continue under Merz’s leadership, describing the Chancellor as strongly damaged by the results. Merz, whose approval ratings have reportedly fallen to about 14 percent after just 16 months in power, vowed in a televised address to press ahead with his reform agenda despite the heavy losses, even as doubts mount within his own party over whether he can continue to lead. Analysts point to a combination of factors driving the far right’s rise in the east, including an ageing population, a shortage of skilled workers and rising anti immigration sentiment, alongside affordability concerns that dominated the separate campaign in Berlin. The twin results add further pressure on Merz’s coalition government in Berlin, coming just two weeks after the AfD’s landslide victory in Saxony Anhalt, and raise fresh questions about the far right’s continued momentum heading into future national contests. By Asiwaju Adekunle Saheed