Berlin elections: Angela Merkel faces new gains by anti-migrant AfD party
Frauke Petry, chairwoman of the anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) Credit: Stefanie Loos/Reuters
Telegraph, “Berlin elections: Angela Merkel faces new gains by anti-migrant AfD party” 18 September 2016:
The far-Right could return as a force to be reckoned with in Berlin politics for the first time since the Second World War.
The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is set to inflict serious losses on Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) in regional elections in Berlin state on Sunday, according to opinion polls.
If the predictions are right, the party could win as much as 15 per cent of the vote campaigning on an openly anti-Muslim platform.
“With a swing to right, life will change in Berlin. I’m convinced of that.“Michael Müller
That would be the far-Right’s best performance in the German capital since 1945, and secure it its first seats in the Berlin state parliament since the 1990 reunification of Germany.
“Berlin cannot be allowed to become the capital of the far-Right,” Michael Müller, the city’s mayor, pleaded in a message on Facebook this week.
“It would be seen around the world as a return of the far-Right and the Nazis to Germany.”
