German chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a major defeat today at the hands of the voters of the German state of Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania. In elections in that state today, Merkel's party, the Christian Democratic Union came in third with less than 20% of the vote. It is the worst showing that the CDU has had in this state since the state became part of Germany after German reunification 26 years ago. The Socialists led in the voting with almost exactly the same share of the vote as in the last state election. The new second place finisher, however, is Alternative fur Deutschland (known as AfD). AfD was founded to protest against Germany bailing out weak economies in the European Union (like Greece, Ireland or Portugal). Lately, however, AfD has adopted a tough stance against the admission of further refugees to Germany from Syria or other Middle Eastern countries.
It's amazing to see just how much Merkel has undermined the CDU with German voters. Merkel's policy of welcoming refugees and bringing them into the German social welfare system has proven more and more unpopular with voters especially as a few of these refugees have participated in terrorist attacks and many more have committed crimes in German cities. Throughout its history, the CDU has always been the German version of a "law and order" party. Merkel has ceded that position to AfD.
Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania is a small state in terms of population, so the vote today may turn out to be an aberration when viewed on a national scale. On the other hand, if the vote is a harbinger of things to come, then the current German political system is about to undergo radical change.
It's worth keeping in mind that AfD is strongly anti-Islam and that it also has groups within it that are anti-Semitic. Given Germany's history, no one really wants to see those sentiments encouraged, but we have only Merkel and her policies to thank for that.
It's amazing to see just how much Merkel has undermined the CDU with German voters. Merkel's policy of welcoming refugees and bringing them into the German social welfare system has proven more and more unpopular with voters especially as a few of these refugees have participated in terrorist attacks and many more have committed crimes in German cities. Throughout its history, the CDU has always been the German version of a "law and order" party. Merkel has ceded that position to AfD.
Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania is a small state in terms of population, so the vote today may turn out to be an aberration when viewed on a national scale. On the other hand, if the vote is a harbinger of things to come, then the current German political system is about to undergo radical change.
It's worth keeping in mind that AfD is strongly anti-Islam and that it also has groups within it that are anti-Semitic. Given Germany's history, no one really wants to see those sentiments encouraged, but we have only Merkel and her policies to thank for that.
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