Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Monday 2 SepteMber 2019
Far-right seen gaining but not winning in 2 German states

By GEIR MOULSON before the migrant influx many together in a frac-
Associated Press that boosted AfD’s support tious national coalition. In
BERLIN (AP) — A far-right and helped it into Germa- Saxony and Brandenburg,
party made strong gains ny’s national parliament in they face a potentially
in a pair of state elections 2017. tricky search for new part-
in eastern Germany on They showed Merkel’s cen- ners, as the coalitions both
Sunday, but mainstream ter-right Christian Demo- lead were on track to lose
opponents appeared set cratic Union winning up to their majorities. The CDU
to salvage their position 33.5% of the vote in Saxony, currently runs Saxony with
as the strongest parties in which they have governed the Social Democrats as
both regions, projections since German reunification its junior partner. The Social
indicated. in 1990, down from 39% five Democrats lead Branden-
Voters in Saxony, a region years ago. AfD was pre- burg in a coalition with the
of around 4.1 million peo- dicted to win up to 27.5%, Left Party, which is further to
ple bordering Poland and which would be its best their left.
the Czech Republic, and performance yet in a state Saxony has long been a
neighboring Brandenburg, election and compares hotbed of far-right groups.
which has 2.5 million inhab- Chairman of right-wing party Alternative for Germany, AfD, with 9.7% five years ago. It is not only a stronghold
Joerg Meuthen, second from right, top candidate Joerg Urban,
itants and surrounds Berlin, center, top candidate for the Saxony state elections and board In Brandenburg, the Social of AfD, but also the state
elected new state legisla- member Beatrix von Storch, left, react after first election results Democrats were seen win- where the anti-migration
tures. announced in Dresden, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019. ning around 27% of the group PEGIDA —Patriotic
All eyes were on the perfor- Associated Press vote, down from 31.9% five Europeans against the Is-
mance of the far-right Alter- states is that a few weeks much too high.” years ago. They have led lamization of the West —
native for Germany, or AfD, ago the far-right was Alice Weidel, a leader of that region since reunifica- rose to prominence with
which is strongest in the ahead, and today there AfD in the national parlia- tion. AfD was seen winning weekly protests in Dresden
ex-communist east, and was a clear signal against ment, declared it “a great up to 24%, up from 12.2% in that brought tens of thou-
on how badly Germany’s AfD,” said Lars Klingbeil, the success.” 2014. The environmental- sands of supporters into the
governing parties would general secretary of the Projections for ARD and ist Greens, who have tra- streets at the height of the
perform after a rough 18 center-left Social Demo- ZDF public television, based ditionally struggled in the 2015 migration crisis.
months for Chancellor An- crats — Merkel’s junior part- on exit polls and partial east but have surged over Following the killing of a
gela Merkel’s coalition in ners in Berlin. “People don’t counting, suggested that recent months in national German man by a Syrian
Berlin. A symbolically impor- want AfD to be the stron- the governing parties per- polls, were seen making asylum-seeker a year ago,
tant AfD win in either state gest party there, but nev- formed better than pre- fairly modest gains in both the Saxon city of Chemnitz
could have further destabi- ertheless it is a task for all election polling predicted. states. They may be need- saw days of anti-foreigner
lized the national govern- democratic parties to see However, both lost ground ed to govern both states. riots by thousands of neo-
ment. how we push them back. compared with the last Merkel’s CDU and Social Nazis and members of
“The good signal in both These election results are state elections in 2014 — Democrats govern Ger- AfD.q