German vote tests response to migrants
by Paul Carrell and Joseph Nasr,
2016-03-14 06:53:40.0
GERMANS turned out in force to vote in three state elections on Sunday, with the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party looking to profit from popular angst about Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcome of more than a million migrants.
The election is the biggest test of the German public’s response to the influx, totalling more than a million last year alone — and showing no sign of abating — of refugees and other migrants from the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
Ms Merkel, who says Germany is a rich enough country to host desperate people and has a moral obligation to shelter those in danger, has staked her reputation on her management of the unprecedented influx, which has come to define her leadership.
Her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) have been losing support to the AfD, which has profited from the growing unease. A poor CDU performance would weaken Ms Merkel just as she tries to push through a deal to resolve the crisis in European Union (EU) negotiations with Turkey, the country from which most migrants depart by sea to reach the EU through Greece.
The AfD argues that Germans have been denied a choice over a policy that could define their country for generations, with Ms Merkel ruling in a "grand coalition" that includes her party’s Socialist rivals.
"There is only one path, a Merkel unity path, and people want an alternative, they want a real opposition and we want to take on that task," Andre Poggenburg, AfD leader in Saxony-Anhalt in the former East Germany, told news reporters after voting.
Voter turnout there and in the two other states holding elections, which with a combined population of 17-million account for more than a fifth of Germany’s 81-million, was well up from the last regional votes five years ago.
By midday, turnout was at 25% in Saxony-Anhalt, 5% higher than 2011, election officials said. In Rhineland-Palatinate, turnout — including postal votes — was at 40%, up 9% from 2011. Media in Baden-Wuerttemberg also reported higher voter numbers.
A failure to win at least two of the three would be a blow for Ms Merkel just as she is trying to use her status as Europe’s most powerful leader to seal an EU deal with Turkey to stem the arrival of migrants.
Polls indicate that the CDU will remain the biggest party in Saxony-Anhalt, but the AfD could grab almost a fifth of the vote there and surpass the Social Democrats (SPD), Ms Merkel’s coalition partners in Berlin.
"It is a hopeless situation because there is a lot of hopelessness here," said Erika Schmidt, 86, voting in Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt. "But the AfD has no plan. That’s why I didn’t vote for them." Still, she was unimpressed with Ms Merkel. Asked if she believed in the chancellor’s mantra of "we can do this" during the refugee crisis, she replied: "No, we can’t do this."
In the west, the CDU could lose to the Greens in Baden-Wuerttemberg, where it is currently the largest party.
A poor showing for the CDU would be untimely for Ms Merkel, who still needs to seal the deal with Turkey at a summit on Thursday and Friday.
She alarmed many EU leaders last week by foisting the plan on them and demanding their support.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Picture: AFP
GERMANS turned out in force to vote in three state elections on Sunday, with the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party looking to profit from popular angst about Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcome of more than a million migrants.
The election is the biggest test of the German public’s response to the influx, totalling more than a million last year alone — and showing no sign of abating — of refugees and other migrants from the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
Ms Merkel, who says Germany is a rich enough country to host desperate people and has a moral obligation to shelter those in danger, has staked her reputation on her management of the unprecedented influx, which has come to define her leadership.
Her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) have been losing support to the AfD, which has profited from the growing unease. A poor CDU performance would weaken Ms Merkel just as she tries to push through a deal to resolve the crisis in European Union (EU) negotiations with Turkey, the country from which most migrants depart by sea to reach the EU through Greece.
The AfD argues that Germans have been denied a choice over a policy that could define their country for generations, with Ms Merkel ruling in a "grand coalition" that includes her party’s Socialist rivals.
"There is only one path, a Merkel unity path, and people want an alternative, they want a real opposition and we want to take on that task," Andre Poggenburg, AfD leader in Saxony-Anhalt in the former East Germany, told news reporters after voting.
Voter turnout there and in the two other states holding elections, which with a combined population of 17-million account for more than a fifth of Germany’s 81-million, was well up from the last regional votes five years ago.
By midday, turnout was at 25% in Saxony-Anhalt, 5% higher than 2011, election officials said. In Rhineland-Palatinate, turnout — including postal votes — was at 40%, up 9% from 2011. Media in Baden-Wuerttemberg also reported higher voter numbers.
A failure to win at least two of the three would be a blow for Ms Merkel just as she is trying to use her status as Europe’s most powerful leader to seal an EU deal with Turkey to stem the arrival of migrants.
Polls indicate that the CDU will remain the biggest party in Saxony-Anhalt, but the AfD could grab almost a fifth of the vote there and surpass the Social Democrats (SPD), Ms Merkel’s coalition partners in Berlin.
"It is a hopeless situation because there is a lot of hopelessness here," said Erika Schmidt, 86, voting in Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt. "But the AfD has no plan. That’s why I didn’t vote for them." Still, she was unimpressed with Ms Merkel. Asked if she believed in the chancellor’s mantra of "we can do this" during the refugee crisis, she replied: "No, we can’t do this."
In the west, the CDU could lose to the Greens in Baden-Wuerttemberg, where it is currently the largest party.
A poor showing for the CDU would be untimely for Ms Merkel, who still needs to seal the deal with Turkey at a summit on Thursday and Friday.
She alarmed many EU leaders last week by foisting the plan on them and demanding their support.
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