German far-right eyes poll gains

 

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is one of Germany's poorest states

 

Voters in two German states are set to go to the polls, with predictions suggesting gains for the far-right and a setback for Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Social Democrats are favoured over Ms Merkel's Christian Democrats in the city-state of Berlin.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the far right National Democratic Party could go over the 5% threshold and enter the parliament.

Two states in former communist eastern Germany already have far-right MPs.

Neck-and-neck

The NPD's support is partly explained by its hard anti-immigrant stance in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which has soaring unemployment.

Ms Merkel, who became the country's first woman chancellor less than a year ago, would want to do well in the state, in which her home constituency lies.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is currently being governed by a so-called "red-red" coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and the Left Party.

Opinion polls show that the SPD are running neck-and-neck with the Christian Democrats (CDU).

But it is the strong showing of the NPD that is expected to make the headlines after the elections.

Manufacturing has collapsed across the former East German state following reunification in 1990, forcing many of its residents to go west in search of work.

The government of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had tried to ban the NPD, describing it as a latter-day version of Hitler's Nazi party.

But Germany's Supreme Court rejected Mr Schroeder's bid in 2003. The NPD has its lawmakers in the state of Saxony, following regional elections in 2004.

Another far-right party - the German People's Union (DVU) - entered the parliament in the state of Brandenburg.

In Berlin an opinion poll has given Social Democrat mayor, Klaus Wowereit, a 10 percentage point lead over Christian Democrat, Friedbert Pflueger.

No surprise-----

 

I mean most of the people are not content with the current german government....especially these days because of the "Gesundheitsreform"...unemployment etc....are a factor as well...

btw the NPD got something like 6% of the votes in Mecklenburg Vorpommern and is now a part of the Mecklenburg Vorpommern government....same as in Sachsen....

 

but however......I think this could be the same in every other country....

 

It's really no surprise, although it's certainly scandalous! In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the Nazi party called NPD got more than 6% so they're now part of the parlament there. It's the same like in Saxony a few years ago.

 

The question is... who voted for the Nazis and for which reason?

 

Well, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the unemployment rate is the highest one in Germany with more than 18%. So, you might say at least one family member in every family is unemployed.

 

The problem is that all these people aren't content with the current German government. That's why they voted the NPD, just only to give a sign. Most of the people who voted for the Nazis were under 25, so they really don't know that they voted a racist anti-semitic party who wants to have a dictatorship in Germany again. Their IQ have to be very low...

 

The NPD got so many votes especially from young people. In a lot of villages they built up new centers for young people and they gave them a special feeling... The feeling that somebody pays attention to them. After the reunification people in the former German Democratic Republic thought life would became better. But far from it! Especially young people went to the Western parts of Germany, because there they got new jobs. People who stayed in the Eastern parts were fall behind and don't have a future.

 

Now the democrats have to learn about this election. The voter participation was the lowest one since the reunification in 1990. The most important thing is to create new jobs in the new federal states. There are already good examples like in Leipzig and Dresden where a lot of new (foreign) companies settled down. But it's still not enough... If the government gets this problem under control, than I guess the Nazis will not get more votes in the following election.

 

But I think you don't have to overrate this election. It's just only a kind of protest, although it's no excuse to vote the NPD.

 

By the way, I was excited about the election in Berlin. It's important for me, because Berlin is still one of a few federal states in Germany where you don't have to pay money if you want to study. ;) It's one of the cities where I could imagine to live in the near future.

pretty shocking.

it's a shame that people think that those "politicians" are able to help them.

never liked Berlin anyway...

i don't want to judge anybody... but i think that it has a lot to do with the old GDR.

people from "drüben" are often very low-educated and still earn less money than people do in west germany. lol.

yeah... fuck them stereotypes, but that's just the way i think.