The political party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a humbling night at the ballot box in Berlin on Sunday, as the far-right party Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) secured a political foothold during the city’s regional elections.
Support for Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) fell to a record 17.5%, while coalition party SPD came out top with only 21.6% of the vote, the Guardian reports. Berlin is now expected to get its first left-wing triple coalition of SPD, the Greens and either the the Left party — who came third on 15.7%— or the liberal Free Democrats (6.7%).
The anti-immigrant AfD, which won 21% in Merkel’s home state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern, will enter Berlin’s state parliament for the first time after gaining 14.1% of the vote. According to the Financial Times, it fell short of AfD’s target of 20% of the vote.
This is the fourth blow for Merkel’s CDU, who have faced three earlier defeats in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rhineland-Westphalia and Baden–Württemberg.
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