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WORLD NEWS Friday 30 august 2019

Far-right party eyes big gains in German state elections

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER lion against communist rule
Associated Press and proclaiming that "the
BAUTZEN, Germany (AP) — east is rising up."
As the sun sets over the me- Saxony's 5.3% unemploy-
dieval towers of Bautzen, ment rate is only a little
crowds flock to the market above the national rate of
square. Most are old, white 5%, and below the east's
men. A few wave German average 6.3%. Its big cit-
flags as they gather for a ies, such as Dresden and
rally with leaders of the far- Leipzig, have been widely
right Alternative for Germa- renovated and attracted
ny party. new companies. But rural
Supporters of the party, regions have not yet re-
which hopes to make big covered from de-industri-
gains Sunday in two state alization three decades
elections, are quick to ago, when communist-era
blame Chancellor Angela companies and agricul-
Merkel and her center-right tural collectives ceased to
Christian Democratic Union be competitive and tens of
for their region's woes. thousands of jobs were lost.
"We need a change," re- Older eastern voters in par-
tiree Volker Nowak said ticular sometimes nourish
as he stood among some nostalgic feelings about
500 followers of the party In this Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019 photo, a crowd of people attend an election campaign rally of the past and are fearful of
known as AfD. "It's only the German Alternative for Germany, AfD, party for the Saxony state elections in Bautzen, Germany. the future, particularly with
old people left behind here Associated Press an economic downturn
... We don't have any doc- looming in Germany and
tors, any nurses, any teach- first-place finish in both 2014. lum seeker last summer, the beyond. The AfD plays on
ers, any tradesmen and states. Neither Merkel's CDU nor Saxon city of Chemnitz saw those fears.
also any youth." The CDU Many people in Germa- the center-left Social Dem- days of anti-foreigner riots The AfD's leader in Saxony,
"ruined everything." ny's rural, eastern periph- ocrats — Merkel's partners by thousands of neo-Nazis Joerg Urban, pledged to
The votes in Saxony — ery feel left behind. Some in the tense national "grand and members of the AfD. the crowd in Bautzen that
which includes Bautzen, a never recovered from los- coalition" — will form a co- "The AfD is offering some- his party would improve ru-
hilltop town of 40,000, and ing their jobs after the wall alition with the AfD. But the thing that the people in ral infrastructure, achieve
neighboring Brandenburg fell. Promises of equal liv- far-right party's strength Saxony and in the east are faster internet, improve
— threaten to deliver an- ing standards did not al- could make forming new missing in general: a sense cellphone reception, build
other blow to Germany's ways become reality, and governments in both states of belonging and a sense new schools and attract
traditional big parties and salaries in the east still lag difficult. of rebellion," said Johannes more doctors. He also
further destabilize Merkel's behind those in the west. Saxony has been a hotbed Staemmler, a political sci- promised to hire more po-
national coalition govern- Many young people left of far-right groups. It is not entist from the Institute for lice and speed up depor-
ment. Coming weeks be- long ago. only a bastion of the AfD, Advanced Stability Studies tations of rejected asylum-
fore the 30th anniversary The CDU has governed but also the state where in Potsdam. seekers. Party members
of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Saxony since reunification the anti-migration group There is also a strong sense distributed flyers promoting
the elections are also likely in 1990, first with an abso- PEGIDA —Patriotic Europe- of disillusionment, especial- increased border controls
to highlight the economic lute majority and more re- ans against the Islamization ly in villages where people and a ban on the construc-
and social issues that still di- cently with coalitions. Polls of the West — rose to prom- feel that they don't "play tion of mosques with mina-
vide the country more than for a time showed it neck- inence with weekly protests a role" and that their own rets.
a generation after reunifi- and-neck with the AfD, but in Dresden that brought state government doesn't Bautzen has a relatively low
cation. recent surveys put it a few tens of thousands of sup- care about them anymore, proportion of foreigners,
The formerly communist points ahead, with support porters into the streets at Staemmler added. 4.6% compared with more
east, and Saxony in partic- around 30% — down from the height of the 2015 mi- Tapping into that mood, than 11% nationally, a fig-
ular, has become a strong- 39% five years ago. The AfD gration crisis. the AfD has put up elec- ure that encompasses ev-
hold for the 6-year-old AfD, appears set to more than Following a killing of a Ger- tion posters urging voters to eryone from European im-
which is eyeing a possible double its 9.7% score from man man by a Syrian asy- "complete" the 1989 rebel- migrants to war refugees.q