GERMAN ELECTION: Merkel on course to win but rise of hard-right could dent victory

German polls suggest that the Alternative for Germany
party (AFD) could win up to 60 seats after using anti-
immigration rhetoric during the election.
The gain for the populist party will deal a blow to Mrs
Merkel who has pleaded with German voters to only
“vote for parties loyal to our constitution".
AFD has won support with the electorate after vowing
to keep the pressure on Mrs Merkel to answer why she
let in a million asylum seekers into the country.
Support for the AfD, jumped two points to 11 percent
in a Forsa poll, putting it on course to become the first
hard-right party in more than half a century to clear
the five per cent hurdle and enter parliament.
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The party wants to launch a probe into whether the
German chancellor broke the law by allowing in around
a million refugees at the height of the migrant crisis in
2015.
The AfD's top candidate Alexander Gauland is looking
forward to the party being welcomed into the
Bundestag to stir up debate.
He said: “It must get into the Bundestag lower house
so that debates happen again in this parliament
because on fundamental questions on the nation
everyone is always in agreement (and) this parliament
... has become totally boring.”
But Mr Garland has come in for criticism after Mrs
Merkel blasted him for telling the nation to be proud of
the actions of German soldiers in the two world wars.
AFD has won support of the electorate after vowing to
keep the pressure on Mrs Merkel on migrants
Mrs Merkel said: “We have to take a clear stance
when it is about our basic values.”
She also urged people to go out and vote and turn
away from the populist party.
The German Chancellor’s Conservative Christian
Democrat Party are holding steady on 36 per cent,
while the Social Democratic Party ceded one point to
22 percent.
Far right demonstrators have protested against Mrs
Merkel's migrant policy
Despite the big gap, SPD leader Martin Schulz told Bild
newspaper he had not given up hope of victory and
days ahead of the election 37 percent of voters were
still undecided.
Attacking Mrs Merkel's campaign as "wooly", Mr
Schulz said: "Angela Merkel is not good for the
country and must be replaced."
Jakob Augstein, a commentator for the left leaning Der
Spiegel magazine blasted: “Merkel deserves to be
voted out. She bears the responsibility for Nazis
entering the Bundestag.”
However, all of the mainstream parties have ruled out
working with the AfD, which may emerge as the third
largest party; but Mr Gauland said it would ultimately
work towards being able to govern in the medium or
long-term.
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Fri, September 22, 2017
Latest pictures during the upcoming general
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel at CDU election
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Electoral arithmetic might yet push Mrs Merkel into
another grand coalition with the SPD, or she may enter
a three-way alliance with the pro-business Free
Democrats (FDP) and environmental Greens.
That could see the AfD as the chancellor's main
opposition in parliament.
Mrs Merkel’s decisions during the migrant crisis have
likely dented her standing with the electorate,
Burkhard Schneider, a member of the CDU for 40 years
said.
He said: “[It has damaged her] up to a certain point,
yes, because in 2015 there was too little public
consultation on the opening of the borders. But I
believe we will not be talking about the AfD in three
years. If you look at the AfD people they say almost
nothing, and when they say something, they just say
‘no, no, no’.”

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