Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has accused the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) of seeking “ethnic cleansing” with its “remigration” drive, after the nativist party’s seismic weekend victory in a state election. In his first public confrontation with the AfD since Sunday’s shock outcome in Saxony-Anhalt, Merz said at a raucous parliamentary debate that the far-right party would take an axe to one of the pillars of the German economy with a racist campaign of mass deportations. In a fiery speech addressed to the AfD parliamentary group, which repeatedly interrupted him with loud taunts and heckling, Merz said millions of working immigrants were crucial to German society.
Support for Merz, a conservative Christian Democrat, has plummeted in the 16 months since he took office at the helm of a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats, amid disappointment over slow progress on economic growth and the cost of living. He has adopted a hard line on border policy in a faltering bid to win back AfD supporters, and acknowledged Germany still had “problems in the area of migration”. This is consensus in the [ruling] coalition, that we need to deport more people,” he said on Wednesday.
Unlike you [the AfD], we take great care to make this distinction.” The AfD won nearly 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt but fell three seats short of an absolute majority. Its chief candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, is seeking potential supporters among the other parties to elect him as state premier. Merz, who has acknowledged that his unpopularity played a role in the halving of support for his party in the state, tried to put a brave face on the rout.
He accused Siegmund, whose party is classed as rightwing extremist by domestic intelligence, of “electoral fraud” by already breaking a campaign promise not to seek to govern the state if he failed to win an absolute majority. You are and remain a destructive force.” Merz also attacked the AfD for its opposition to military assistance for Ukraine, and accused it of making common cause with Russia, which Berlin has alleged is mounting a sabotage and disinformation campaign on its soil. He said that despite “clear evidence” a failed drone bomb attack at Leipzig airport last month “had been planned in Russia for months and was specifically directed against Germany”, the AfD had remained silent on it.
Earlier from the podium, Weidel savoured her party’s resounding election victory, saying the CDU had been “pulverised” and calling it a referendum on Merz’s leadership. Attacking the government’s migration policy and blaming it for crime and other security problems, Weidel said: “Your time is up. The public want a change in policy, and they will get it,” reiterating her party’s aim to form a federal government in the foreseeable future.
Polls show Merz’s fractious coalition would not have a majority in a general election, which is not scheduled until 2029. The AfD is polling in first place at 28% to 29%, with the wind at its back before another two state polls this month, in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
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