AfD vows to become 3rd largest force in Germany as Merkel admits refugee crisis was ‘out of control’
RT.com
19 Sep, 2016
The deputy chief of the German anti-immigrant and Euroskeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has vowed it will become the third largest force in the 2017 federal parliamentary elections, following its latest breakthrough in the Berlin polls.
Celebrating the outcome, AfD deputy leader Beatrix von Storch published a post saying the result is a sign of “decline” for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
“The CDU declines. The AfD rises. In 2017 we’ll see Angela Merkel fighting for her political survival and the AfD will become the third-largest force in Germany – at least,” Storch wrote.
The far-right AfD took 14.1 percent of the vote in Berlin parliamentary polls, according to the latest preliminary results. It’s the first time the AfD has participated in Berlin elections since the party’s establishment in 2013. However the party is already present in nine out of 16 state parliaments in Germany.
Merkel’s CDU came second, beating the AfD but losing 5 percent of voters compared to the previous elections in the German capital, according to Focus German magazine.
Following the release of the polls, Merkel said she “takes responsibility for the outcome.” She also admitted her government was “not prepared” for the refugee crisis – a point considered key to the AfD success across Germany.
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