Aw, crap... (AfD beats Merkel in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)

[Liriena]

Welp, at least the Social Democrats came in first, and the NPD is gone for good.

BERLIN, Sept 4 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats fell to third place in a state election on Sunday behind the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, TV projections showed.

In a stinging defeat for Merkel in her home district one year ahead of federal elections, the upstart AfD won 21.4 percent of the vote in their first election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern by campaigning hard against the chancellor’s policies on refugees, according to a projection by ZDF TV at 1615 GMT.

“This isn’t pretty for us,” said Michael Grosse-Groehmer, one of Merkel’s top deputies in parliament in Berlin in a ZDF TV interview. “Those who voted for the AfD were sending a message of protest.”

The election took place exactly a year after Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees and the discontent in the state was palpable.

“This is a slap in the face for Merkel - not only in Berlin but also in her home state,” said Frauke Petry, co-leader of the AfD. “The voters made a clear statement against Merkel’s disastrous immigration policies. This put her in her place.”

The SPD, which has ruled the rural state on the Baltic coast with the CDU as junior coalition partners since 2006, won 30.2 percent of the vote, down from 35.6 percent in the last election in 2011. The CDU won 19.8 percent, down from 23 percent in 2011, and its worst result ever in the state, the broadcaster said.

The far-left Left Party won 12.5 percent, down from 18.4 percent five years ago, while the pro-environment Greens won 5 percent, down from 8.7 percent. The far-right NPD was knocked out of the state assembly, falling below the 5 percent threshold for the first time since 2006 with 3.2 percent, down from 6 percent in 2011.

Despite losing support, the SPD (24 seats) and the CDU (16) won enough seats to be able to continue their grand coalition in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with the AfD as the second-largest bloc in the 71-seat state assembly with 18 seats. The SPD, which could also form a coalition with the Left and Green parties, said it was leaving its options open.

Voters already punished Merkel in three state elections in March, voting in droves for the AfD and rejecting Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

Founded in 2013, the AfD now has won seats in nine of the 16 state assemblies across the country. However, it has no chance of governing in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since the other parties have said they would not form a coalition with the party.

The AfD is also making gains nationwide, a new poll showed on Sunday. If the national election were held next week, the AfD would win 12 percent of the vote, making it the third-largest party in Germany, according to a poll conducted by the Emnid institute for the Bild newspaper and published on Sunday.

Merkel, mulling a bid for a fourth term as chancellor, made a last-minute campaign appearance on Saturday in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, warning against the politics of “angst” offered by AfD with its virulent anti-refugee stance.

tl;dr: Merkel's party came in third in the regional elections in her home region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, surpassed by SPD (her coalition partners) and AfD (the formerly intellectual anti-Euro party that has recently transformed into the screaming-incoherently-about-refugees party).

My two cents: While I don't like Merkel and her party in ideological terms (with their opposition to marriage equality and all), I very much prefer her to the 'diet NPD' that is AfD today. That a sizeable portion of German voters, at least in this region, are supporting this party worries me an awful lot. I understand concerns over Merkel's policies on refugees, but the AfD isn't just anti-immigration. It's a staunchly reactionary party that is also opposed to LGBT+ rights and clean energy, and supports the reinstatement of conscription, which are three huge red flags in a row, as far as I'm concerned.

Your thoughts, NSG? Do you expect this to become a trend with future German elections? Does AfD pose a credible threat to the ruling coalition?

[Herskerstad]

I think the AfD will likely roll up and down like a wave on the German electoral position, much the same with a certain party in France, but they are confidently nowhere close to the height of their power yet.

Merkel seems to be faced with the evolutionary dilemma of reform or die, as the only real threat she has is internal party policies forming a hardline against her which will only grow after this.

[Proticata]

This is not a bad thing, German people have had enough of the unpragmatic lefties (Keyword unpragamtic no reason to be offended) ruining the country with open-door policies.

[Liriena]

This is not a bad thing, German people have had enough of the unpragmatic lefties (Keyword unpragamtic no reason to be offended) ruining the country

Merkel is a leftist?

Gosh darnit! Why didn't you people tell me? I wanna vote for her, then!

[Equestria and Griffon]

Checkmate.

[Proticata]

This is not a bad thing, German people have had enough of the unpragmatic lefties (Keyword unpragamtic no reason to be offended) ruining the country

Merkel is a leftist?

Gosh darnit! Why didn't you people tell me? I wanna vote for her, then!

She is not fully a leftist but her leftist policies are bad for Germany.

[Uxupox]

Goose steps WHEN!

[New Alessia]

This is a good thing.
The AfD will probably only get at most 7 - 8% in the upcoming Berlin vote, but still it's good to see some signs of people getting fed up with the CDU's attitude of allowing a totally open border and ignoring any resulting problems such as increased crime rates.

[Liriena]

Merkel is a leftist?

Gosh darnit! Why didn't you people tell me? I wanna vote for her, then!

She is not fully a leftist

She's not a leftist, period. I mean, have you actually listened to her? Looked at her policies? Read her party's platform?

Support for clean energy and humane treatment of refugees does not a leftist make.

but her leftist policies are bad for Germany.

Policies such as...?

[Imperializt Russia]

Merkel's own party didn't win last time either - and by a pretty big margin. Quite interesting.

Anyway, CDU didn't even lose that much support - barely three percentage points. The SPD lost twice as many votes, which doesn't even account for all of the gains made by AfD.

So I don't think it's as significant as AfD are making out. It's a neat win for them, and I'm sure they're happy for their serious-looking gains.

[UnjustlyBannedLlamas]

This is not a bad thing, German people have had enough of the unpragmatic lefties (Keyword unpragamtic no reason to be offended) ruining the country with open-door policies.

Yeah when has a far-right party with xenophobic and nativity rhetoric on the rise in Germany ever led to anything bad?

[Proticata]

She is not fully a leftist

She's not a leftist, period. I mean, have you actually listened to her? Looked at her policies? Read her party's platform?

Support for clean energy and humane treatment of refugees does not a leftist make.

but her leftist policies are bad for Germany.

Policies such as...?

The open-door policy.

[Mefpan]

It's not so much that Germans everywhere are suddenly turning into goosestepping, omnihating Nazis again.

The voters are slowly growing sick and tired of being more or less ignored by SPD and CDU who are by now taking being elected as a given far more often than not. The shrug-and-move-on recommendation from many government-supported organizations or media outlets especially in regards to the specter of fundamentalist islamic terrorism and often ignored or not at all addressed genuine problems with the behavior of the most recent waves of migrants, refugees, "refugees" or otherwise does not help at all.

Of course, I'm sure quite a lot of these people are very much aware of the full party program of the AfD, as am I, but at this juncture they'd rather be fucked over by a party that tells them up front it's going to fuck them over rather than watch SPD and CDU do precisely nothing about it while a recently arrived outside group does the fucking over for them.

Personally, I'm hoping the CSU will go and do its own thing in the federal elections and leave the CDU behind.

This is not a bad thing, German people have had enough of the unpragmatic lefties (Keyword unpragamtic no reason to be offended) ruining the country with open-door policies.

Yeah when has a far-right party with xenophobic and nativity rhetoric on the rise in Germany ever led to anything bad?

For fuck's sake, the AfD is a ball of loud-mouthed buffoons at its worst. They're not literally Hitler Reincarnate.

[Liriena]

This is a good thing.
The AfD will probably only get at most 7 - 8% in the upcoming Berlin vote, but still it's good to see some signs of people getting fed up with the CDU's attitude of allowing a totally open border and ignoring any resulting problems such as increased crime rates.

Lying is wrong, mmkay?

[Liriena]

She's not a leftist, period. I mean, have you actually listened to her? Looked at her policies? Read her party's platform?

Support for clean energy and humane treatment of refugees does not a leftist make.


Policies such as...?

The open-door policy.

Not an inherently leftist thing (I distinctly remember reading about how enthusiastic many German capitalists were about the prospect of an influx of young, educated Syrians), but okay.

[New Alessia]

This is not a bad thing, German people have had enough of the unpragmatic lefties (Keyword unpragamtic no reason to be offended) ruining the country with open-door policies.

Yeah when has a far-right party with xenophobic and nativity rhetoric on the rise in Germany ever led to anything bad?

Since when has it been a far right position to be opposed to the EU and mass uncontrolled immigration?
The AfD is simply right wing. If you want to see a real far-right party look at the NPD.
And the left can't just write off the legitimate concerns of citizens about mass migration from war torn third world nations as some "xenophobia" spook forever.

[Dushan]

Welp, at least the Social Democrats came in first, and the NPD is gone for good.

Trust me Liri, you wouldn like the Social Democrats very much if you knew how they roll.

My two cents: While I don't like Merkel and her party in ideological terms (with their opposition to marriage equality and all), I very much prefer her to the 'diet NPD' that is AfD today.

There is a lot of things wrong with the AfD, but they aren't a diet NPD for various ideological and other reasons. They do represent a new political sentiment that has been evolving in the shadows (alas unattended by the Liberal Media in Germany) over the past ten Years and got it's breakthrough with the refugee crisis. The NPD was on the other hand clearly rooted in Neo-Nazist subculture. The AfD eats now up their outer Voter base.

That a sizeable portion of German voters, at least in this region, are supporting this party worries me an awful lot.

Mecklenburg Vorpommern isn't a represenative State nor it is of particular importance. People there Vote always in huge Numbers for anti-establishment Parties since quite a while for their own reasons. It's safe to assume that many Left-Party Voters moved over to the AfD.

I understand concerns over Merkel's policies on refugees, but the AfD isn't just anti-immigration. It's a staunchly reactionary party that is also opposed to LGBT+ rights and clean energy, and supports the reinstatement of conscription, which are three huge red flags in a row, as far as I'm concerned.

Not sure about the Conscription thingy but the AfD has pretty much taken all the other positions indeed.

Your thoughts, NSG? Do you expect this to become a trend with future German elections? Does AfD pose a credible threat to the ruling coalition?

Yes, the AfD is going to become the 3rd strongst Party soon. Depending on the performance of the SPD - which is awfully weak - possibly the second strongest.

This has to do with simple political aritmetrics based on the fact that the CDU is nowadays de-facto a centrist Party and that the Refugee crisis stirred up enough political energy to allow the rise of the AfD. This happened around 12 Years ago to the SPD too when they got chunks taken away from the Left-Party, something which they have not been recovered ever since and which might as well be their doom.

The CDU is in a much better position as long as Angela Merkel is onboard. A post Merkel CDU is likely to move towards the right which is bad news for the AfD in the future.

The AfD has on federal Level possibly a potential around 10-15%, no little part of this comes from disgruntlement with the current establishment and protest Voters. I estimate the solid convinced Voter core slightly below 6-8% and possibly less.

[Benuty]

It isn't like we all couldn't have seen this coming. European political trends this decade obviously showed this.

[New Alessia]

This is a good thing.
The AfD will probably only get at most 7 - 8% in the upcoming Berlin vote, but still it's good to see some signs of people getting fed up with the CDU's attitude of allowing a totally open border and ignoring any resulting problems such as increased crime rates.

Lying is wrong, mmkay?

Please don't do it then.

[Imperializt Russia]

This is not a bad thing, German people have had enough of the unpragmatic lefties (Keyword unpragamtic no reason to be offended) ruining the country with open-door policies.

Yeah when has a far-right party with xenophobic and nativity rhetoric on the rise in Germany ever led to anything bad?

Not in my lifetime or my parent's lifetime, that's for sure!

[Yootxtlalkaan]

It's not so much that Germans everywhere are suddenly turning into goosestepping, omnihating Nazis again.

The voters are slowly growing sick and tired of being more or less ignored by SPD and CDU who are by now taking being elected as a given far more often than not.

, and using that as an excuse to join up with a gang of diët nazis.

you can't use this as an explanation, die linke lost voters as well.

[Letwinist States]

It is not all refugees, my interpretation is that some people are using the elections as a wake-up-call to the current administration, voting AfD in protest.
I do not see how it is possible as a German to be anti-migrants. Half of us are WW2 refugees from Silesia, Sudeten, Prussia, the Baltic, Kazakhstan, Volgograd, Romania. Or integrated foreigners that Hitler thought worth calling back to Germany, Russians with German ancestors that left for Germany after the war. In Meck-Pomm, that is especially dominant. Siggelkow, Pachow, migration is very real for these people. As I said, it is more of a social defecit and the feeling of being forgotten made worse by the attention that new migrants are given.

[Proticata]

The open-door policy.

Not an inherently leftist thing (I distinctly remember reading about how enthusiastic many German capitalists were about the prospect of an influx of young, educated Syrians), but okay.

Well depends on what spectrum I was thinking of social left and a influx of uncontrolled migrants wont be good for business, as you would be lettinging many people that may not bother getting educated as well gettinga job and instead freeload on welfare sure there may be some that will bother.

[Imperializt Russia]

She's not a leftist, period. I mean, have you actually listened to her? Looked at her policies? Read her party's platform?

Support for clean energy and humane treatment of refugees does not a leftist make.


Policies such as...?

The open-door policy.

Okay. It wasn't strictly an "open door" policy, and it's not "leftist".

Stop using that word. Find a word that still has a meaning.

Like, "pro-migrant" if you really want.

[Aulesti]

I see nothing wrong with the democratic expression of the people of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. If they feel that the AfD represents them better than the Christian Democrats, so be it. It's not like the AfD's leadership is a gang of vicious neo-nazi skinheads who terrorise the population of Germany. Plus, M-V was always rather conservative and right-wing and it has the lowest proportion of immigrants compared to other German states.


All will be good and life will go on as usual.