Merkel’s Party Suffers Worst Berlin Loss of Postwar Era
- Voters punish two biggest German parties in capital city vote
- Anti-immigration AfD set to enter its 10th regional assembly
Merkel Urged to Make Efforts to Reduce Refugee Influx
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party was dealt another blow in a regional election, posting its worst result in Berlin since the end of World War II as the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany extended its challenge to the political establishment by siphoning off voters.
The Social Democrats, Merkel’s junior coalition partner in the national government, won the election for the capital’s state assembly and the chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union finished second. Yet their combined voter share declined by about a quarter, leaving the “grand coalition” of the two biggest parties without a majority to run Germany’s biggest city. Alternative for Germany, or AfD, took about 14 percent, putting it just behind the resurgent anti-capitalist Left party and the Greens.