Chancellor Angela Merkel's Conservatives have suffered their second electoral blow in two weeks. Support for her Christian Democrats (CDU) has plunged to a post-reunification low in a Berlin state vot
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Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party has suffered its second election blow in two weeks, slumping to its lowest level since 1990.
Voters appear to have punished the German leader’s open-door refugee policy in a Berlin state poll. With the count all but completed her Christian Democrats have come in second on just over 17 percent. down from 23.3 percent in 2011.
It is a severe blow for the CDU, coming two weeks after they suffered heavy losses in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The setbacks have raised questions about whether Merkel will stand for a fourth term next year.
Meanwhile there were celebrations at the head quarters of the Alternative for Germany party (Afd) Although not the winners, voters backed their anti-immigration stance, propelling them into their 10th regional state legislature with over 14 percent.
Sunday night’s victors were the Social Democrats but even they suffered a fall in support notching up just over 21 percent – 7 percent down on the last poll-
The losses for both the biggest parties are being seen as a wake-up call with analysts pointing to a further fragmentation of Germany’s political landscape.