#GermanRegionalElections: Worrisome day for Angela Merkel - Conservatives lose two out of three regional elections

Sunday (13 March) was a very important day for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but a rather worrisome one. In three German federal states (Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt) almost 13 million people have been called upon to vote their regional parliaments. These elections have been of high importance as they can be seen as a first significant waymarker for next year’s German Bundestag elections, which after more than 10 years as German chancellor might cost Angela Merkel her job, writes Judith Mischke.

Very soon on Sunday 13 March, high participation numbers showed that all Germans eligible to vote were aware of this election day’s significance - around noon, almost half the population entitled to vote had submitted their ballots in all three federal states. Five years earlier, at the previous regional elections in the same states, the participation numbers were lower.

Until the election had started on Sunday morning, chancellor Merkel gave her very best to find supporters for her conservative party CDU, a tricky attempt since her recent refugee policies have not been of high success in her own country. Her ‘open-door-policy’, allowing millions of migrants to enter and stay in Germany, has torn the country apart and Germans, who once followed their chancellor’s policies blindly, have instead decided to support another, rather new party on the German market: the AFD.

AFD stands for Alternative für Deutschland, meaning ‘alternative for Germany’ and the nationalist party is making its success out of opposing to Merkel’s refugee-friendly-policies. The AFD has recently been very popular and until today 13 March had already made it into five out of 16 regional parliaments. And with today's election having come to an end we know that their success is still going on. Shortly after the polling stations closed today (13 March) at 18h, it was revealed that the AFD made at least 23% in the Eastern federal state Saxony-Anhalt, making them the second biggest party in the regional parliament. In the two other federal states, the AFD crawled up to at least 10% - very remarkable for a party that was only founded in 2013.

Especially the refugee crisis has strengthened this party and helped the AFD gaining more members, as most Germans currently criticize the unsecured boarders and the rather chaotic flow of refugees into the country. Recent polls showed that many Germans in general want to help and support refugees, but not if their inner security is at stake. Especially since the attacks in Cologne on women on New Year's Eve, the atmosphere has changed and more Germans have strong security concerns. As Merkel just announced that she does not want to change her strategy, neither won’t accept any upper limit for asylum seekers coming to Germany, it had already been expected that these regional elections today (13 March) would make the AFD even more powerful.

Thus, it wasn't a surprise that AFD's success lead to decline in Merkel's supporters, or in other words: Merkel's stolidness made her party CDU (Christian Democratic Union) lose voters. The conservative party suffered defeats and reached only around 27.5 % of the votes in Baden-Württemberg, formerly in strong CDU hands. Strongest party here are now the Greens (die Grünen), who reached more than 30% of the votes. After Rhineland-Palatinate, where the Social Democrats (SPD) reached almost 40% of the votes, Baden Württemberg is the second federal state were Merkel and her party lose power.

Only in Saxony-Anhalt the Conservatives maintain the power, but will have to share the parliament with the AFD. Troublesome debates and times are forecasted.

This election day has been avery bad one for Angela Merkel and her party. And if Merkel does not change her policies and will keep on insisting on 'open doors', it will be exactly these 'open doors' who will make Merkel leave and lose her own country.

Background

The German party AFD is a very young party which was founded in 2013 and started gaining first members by establishing a Eurosceptic view on German and international politics. The AFD can be seen as a nationalist, centre-right conservative party, led by German politician Frauke Petry.

Since the refugee crisis started, the AFD has become more successful and grew bigger, by using slogans such as ‘For our country – for our norms’ or ‘immigration needs clear rules’. Critics say that many AFD slogans become more and more similar to slogans used by the controversial right-wing German party NPD, the left-over-party of Hitler’s NSDAP.

The AFD has two politicians in the European Parliament, Beatrix von Storch and Michael Pretzell, which both have been asked to leave the ECR group (European Conservatives and Reformists group) last week, after they campaigned for shooting refugees. The ECR group is the third largest party in the Parliament, including about 20 members from the British Tories.

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