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09-06-2016, 06:43 AM
BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed on Monday to "win back trust" of voters angered by her open-door refugee policy after her conservatives suffered a humiliating election loss to an anti-migrant party.
"Everyone **w needs to think about how we can win back trust -- most of all, of course, myself," Merkel said, speaking on the sidelines of a G20 summit in China a day after the election drubbing in her home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party clinched almost 21 percent in its first bid for seats in the regional parliament of the **rth-eastern ex-Communist state on Sunday, against 19 percent for Merkel’s party.
The AfD’s rise mirrors success enjoyed by other anti-immigration parties across Europe, with France’s Front National (FN) riding high in the polls and a far-right populist eyeing the presidency in Austria in elections on October 2.
Merkel said she was "deeply dissatisfied with the outcome of the election," conceding that it had been dominated by the influx of one million asylum seekers to Germany last year and the question of how to integrate them in society.
She said that, as chancellor and party chief, "of course I am also responsible" but insisted that opening the borders to a mass influx of refugees and migrants a year ago was the right decision.
"I consider the fundamental decisions as right, but there is much to be done to win back trust and the topic of integration will play a huge role, as well as the repatriation of those who don’t gain residency rights."
AfD co-chief Beatrix von Storch, with her eyes on national elections next year, hailed the shock outcome as "the beginning of the end of the Merkel era", while Bild daily labelled the result as a**ther "slap across the face" for the chancellor.
The state vote was held exactly one year after Merkel opened German borders to a mass influx of mainly Syrian refugees stranded in Hungary.
While her welcoming stance initially won much praise, the mood has since darkened as popular worries have grown about how to integrate the newcomers.
The AfD has capitalised on such fears, especially since a spate of ***ual assaults blamed on **rth African men on New Year’s Eve, and a ****** of bloody attacks this summer, some claimed by the Islamic State group.
With its latest win, the AfD, founded just over three years ago, is **w represented in nine out of Germany’s 16 regional parliaments, and hoping for more gains when the capital Berlin goes to the polls in two weeks.
Although Sunday’s election was held in Germany’s poorest and least populous state, the outcome was significant in part because it is home to Merkel’s constituency, the port city of Stralsund.
"This was more than a small state election, it was a vote on Merkel," said news site Spiegel Online, pointing at the "protest storm" in "Merkel’s living room".
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"Everyone **w needs to think about how we can win back trust -- most of all, of course, myself," Merkel said, speaking on the sidelines of a G20 summit in China a day after the election drubbing in her home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party clinched almost 21 percent in its first bid for seats in the regional parliament of the **rth-eastern ex-Communist state on Sunday, against 19 percent for Merkel’s party.
The AfD’s rise mirrors success enjoyed by other anti-immigration parties across Europe, with France’s Front National (FN) riding high in the polls and a far-right populist eyeing the presidency in Austria in elections on October 2.
Merkel said she was "deeply dissatisfied with the outcome of the election," conceding that it had been dominated by the influx of one million asylum seekers to Germany last year and the question of how to integrate them in society.
She said that, as chancellor and party chief, "of course I am also responsible" but insisted that opening the borders to a mass influx of refugees and migrants a year ago was the right decision.
"I consider the fundamental decisions as right, but there is much to be done to win back trust and the topic of integration will play a huge role, as well as the repatriation of those who don’t gain residency rights."
AfD co-chief Beatrix von Storch, with her eyes on national elections next year, hailed the shock outcome as "the beginning of the end of the Merkel era", while Bild daily labelled the result as a**ther "slap across the face" for the chancellor.
The state vote was held exactly one year after Merkel opened German borders to a mass influx of mainly Syrian refugees stranded in Hungary.
While her welcoming stance initially won much praise, the mood has since darkened as popular worries have grown about how to integrate the newcomers.
The AfD has capitalised on such fears, especially since a spate of ***ual assaults blamed on **rth African men on New Year’s Eve, and a ****** of bloody attacks this summer, some claimed by the Islamic State group.
With its latest win, the AfD, founded just over three years ago, is **w represented in nine out of Germany’s 16 regional parliaments, and hoping for more gains when the capital Berlin goes to the polls in two weeks.
Although Sunday’s election was held in Germany’s poorest and least populous state, the outcome was significant in part because it is home to Merkel’s constituency, the port city of Stralsund.
"This was more than a small state election, it was a vote on Merkel," said news site Spiegel Online, pointing at the "protest storm" in "Merkel’s living room".
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