German Chancellor Merkels party suffers rout in migrant policy backlash

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party suffered its second electoral blow in two weeks on Sunday (September 18), slumping to its lowest level since 1990 in a Berlin state vote that rejected her open-door refugee policy.

Voters turned to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which with 12.9 percent of the vote will enter its 10th regional assembly among the country’s 16 states.

Projections from broadcaster ZDF put Merkel’s Christian Democrats on 18 percent, down from 23.3 percent in the last election in Berlin in 2011.

The Social Democrats (SPD) also lost support, falling to 22.4 percent from 28.3 percent, but remained the biggest party and are likely to ditch the CDU from their current coalition.

“We have reached our goal, we are still the strongest political power in the city and we have a governmental mandate,” Berlin mayor Michael Mueller told SPD supporters.

The SPD, Merkel’s junior coalition partner at the national level, wants to form a coalition with the Greens and possibly the radical Left party in the city-state of Berlin.

A year before a national election, the result is set to raise pressure on Merkel and deepen rifts in her conservative camp, with more sniping expected from her CSU allies in Bavaria.

“For us as CDU this result – and you don’t have to beat around the bush – is absolutely unsatisfactory,” CDU main candidate for Berlin, Frank Henkel, told his supporters at the party’s election result event.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats were routed in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern two weeks ago, triggering calls from the CSU for her to toughen up her migrant policy.

In particular, they want a cap of 200,000 refugees per year, which Merkel rejects.

A backlash against her migrant policy has raised questions about whether Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader, will stand for a fourth term next year. Given a dearth of options in her party, however, she is still the most likely candidate.

The Greens won 15.9 percent of the Berlin vote, down 1.7 percentage points from 2011, while the Left party was up 4 points at 15.7 percent, according to ZDF.

The AfD, founded in 2013 as an anti-euro party, was the big winner. It has in the last year played to voters’ fears about the integration of the roughly one million migrants who entered Germany last year.

Commentators said the result indicated that the party looked poised to enter the lower house of parliament in 2017.