BERLIN: Germany’s far-right AfD party is hoping for strong gains yesterday in elections in two ex-communist states, potentially shaking Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fragile coalition government.
The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party has polled strongly in both Brandenburg and Saxony states, part of its eastern electoral heartland. Aside from railing against Islam and asylum- seekers, the AfD has capitalised on resentment about a lingering eastwest wealth gap since the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
“Let’s complete the Wende” (turnaround), it has vowed, referring to the peaceful revolution that ended the Soviet-allied one party state and brought national reunification in 1990. The AfD has long co-opted the former pro-democracy chant “We are the people” and turned it against what it labels the “Merkel regime”. – AFP
