德国地方选举：反移民的极右党获胜

Far right-wing party makes gains in German elections

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY 6:10 p.m. EDT March 13, 2016

 

BERLIN — A far right-wing party in Germany won enough votes Sunday to gain seats in three regional elections, a result seen as a major rebuke to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open immigration policy.

The 3-year-old Alternative for Deutschland party, or AfD, won representation in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate in prosperous southwestern Germany and in Saxony-Anhalt, an economically disadvantaged area in the eastern part of the country, according to results and exit polls broadcast on German state TV.

The AfD won 15% of the vote in Baden-Wuerttemberg and 12.6% in Rhineland-Palatinate, according to official results. The party finished second in Saxony-Anhalt with 24%, according to projections by ARD and ZDF television with most districts counted.

Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union party suffered vote-share losses in all three states but remained the largest party in Saxony-Anhalt.

"Voters are turning away in large numbers from the big established parties and voting for our party," AfD leader Frauke Petry said at an election rally. She added that voters "expect us to be the opposition that there hasn’t been in the German parliament and some state parliaments.”

The AfD is now represented in eight of Germany's 16 state parliaments.