MERKEL'S JUDGEMENT DAY: Anti-migrant party set for HUGE victory as Germans head to vote

A GERMAN anti-migrant party is set for a staggering victory at the polls amid growing discontent with Chancellor Angela Merkel a year after she announced her open borders policy.

By VICKIIE OLIPHANT
PUBLISHED: 09:45, Sun, Sep 4, 2016 | UPDATED: 10:30, Sun, Sep 4, 2016



REUTERS The election is taking place exactly a year after Mrs Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders

Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland party (AfD) is expected to secure 22 per cent of the vote in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern today, which will be followed by another key vote in Berlin in two weeks and national elections in September.

Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrat Union (CDU) is expected to win a similar share of votes, but will be facing an uphill struggle after already being rejected in favour of the AfD in THREE state elections already in March.

The election is taking place exactly a year after Mrs Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders to thousands of refugees, which sparked wide spread criticism and calls for her to resign from her opposition.

A win for AfD in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , a small coastal town in northeastern Germany with just 1.3million eligible voters, could be embarrassing for the CDU leader - whose own electoral district is in the state.

Merkel is attending a G20 summit as voters go to the polls

Party candidate Leif-Erik Holm said: "We hope to become the strongest party in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania."

The anti-immigration party, founded two years after the last election in the state and adopted an anti-Islam policy in May 2016, is also expected to make gains nationwide as Germany goes to the polls today.

A new survey has revealed that if the national election were held next week, the AfD would win 12 per cent of the vote - making it the third largest party in Germany.

Meanwhile Mrs Merkel’s approval ratings have sunk to a five-year low of 45 per cent over the past year.

Making a last minute campaign appearance in the district, she warned voters against the politics of “angst” offered by the AfD and instead look at the current coalition’s policies that have halved unemployment and boosted tourism.

She said: “It’s going to be a tight race, every vote counts. This election is about the future of this state."

But she also defended her decision to welcome so many migrants into Germany - 1.1million last year - while denying that her decision cut funding for the German public.





On Saturday Mrs Merkel told Bild newspaper: "We did not reduce benefits for anyone in Germany as a result of the aid for refugees. In fact, we actually saw social improvements in some areas.

"We took nothing away from people here. We are still achieving our big goal of maintaining and improving the quality of life in Germany.

“On that weekend (in 2015) it was not about opening the border for everyone, it was about not shutting it to those who had made their way to us from Hungary, on foot and in great need of help.”

Only two per cent of migrants arriving in Germany have gone to live in her own district.

MERKEL'S JUDGEMENT DAY: Anti-migrant party set for HUGE victory as Germans head to vote