Angela Merkel is smashed in her home state polls by the far-Right a year after she let hundreds of thousands of migrants into Germany 

• Polls in Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania show Merkel slump to second
• Merkel's party tied in region with hard-right group Alternative for Germany
• Her support has suffered as a result of her open door immigration policy
• Immigration is a big concern in Germany after recent terror attacks

Chancellor Angela Merkel was hammered in an election in her home state on Sunday by the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Exit polls in the Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania election show Mrs Merkel's CDU conservatives slumped to a tied second place with the AfD which has eroded her power base because of her open door immigration policy.

Both parties scored 22 percent of the votes cast exactly a year after Mrs Merkel took the decision to open the country up to unregulated refugee immigration. The AfD now have seats in 11 regional parliaments in Germany.

Scroll down for video 

+4

Chancellor Angela Merkel was hammered in an election in her home state on Sunday by the hard-right Alternative for Germany party (Pictured, on the eve of the election in Bad Doberan)

The figures may change when the final count is in but the result is seen as a clear disaster for Mrs Merkel.

The result will further plunge her prospects of serving a fourth term in office in doubt when Germany stages its general election in the autumn of 2017.

The vote on Sunday in the state - where she has had her own constituency since 1990 - was a referendum on her controversial refugee programme which has seen more than a million people enter the country in the past 12 months.

Germans are frightened of losing their national identity, of terrorism - two refugees carried out attacks in the country in July - and of escalating sex crime. In Essen on Friday night there were more incidents of immigrant men sexually assaulting women at a street festival.

Mecklenburg-Western Pormerania is Germany's poorest state and elections are usually decided on economic issues. But this one was fought solely on the refugee question.

After the AfD win the party leader Frauke Petry said: 'We have made history here today.'

+4

Alexander Gauland (left) of the Alternative for Germany party and lead candidate Leif-Erik Holm (centre) celebrate after the election results

The result in the state, currently ruled in a coalition with her CDU and the centre-left SPD, proves that Mrs Merkel is failing to connect with voters. A new poll out on Friday showed that her approval levels have slumped to their lowest for five years.

The SPD came out on top in Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania with 30 percent of the vote, meaning it can still form a coalition with the CDU but could also go into power with the hard-left Die Linke party and the Greens.

The result is seen as Mrs Merkel's fault alone she continues to ignore public opinion and insists that there will be no U-turn on her asylum policy. 

In an interview published in Bild prior to the election, she said: 'We did not reduce benefits for anyone in Germany as a result of the aid for refugees. In fact, we actually saw social improvements in some areas.

'We took nothing away from people here.

'We are still achieving our big goal of maintaining and improving the quality of life in Germany.' 

+4

Supporters of the AfD celebrate after the first exit polls in Schwerin, Germany, earlier today

+4

The result is seen as Mrs Merkel's fault as  she continues to ignore public opinion and insists that there will be no U-turn on asylum policy (Pictured, Mrs Merkel speaks an election event)

Delivering a closing campaign speech on Saturday, in the state of 1.3 million voters north of Berlin, she continued to encourage a focus on Germany's role to help those in need.

She said: 'The vast majority of people are ready to help people in distress in the world. For that I am very thankful. We must maintain this stance.'

Hans-Herman Tiedje, a former policy adviser to legendary German chancellor Helmut Kohl, said: 'The German people has not been asked once if it wants this demographic restructuring of our country.

'The good people of this world will maybe give her the Nobel Peace Prize--but domestically her politics are devastating.

'As to the poll - the AfD is indeed definitely not intellectual enrichment for our country, but it binds to itself voters who despair at Merkel's policy.' 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3773361/Merkel-smashed-home-state-polls-far-Right-year-let-hundreds-thousands-migrants-Germany.html#ixzz4JJjY1jiA

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But the BBC says Merkel has been smashed to third place !  

-------------------------------------------------------
 

Angela Merkel's CDU 'suffers Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania poll blow'

Angela Merkel's ruling CDU party has been beaten into third place by an anti-immigrant and anti-Islam party in elections in a north-eastern German state, TV exit polls suggest.

The Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) party took 21.4% of the vote behind the centre-left SPD's 30.2%.
The German chancellor's CDU was supported by only 19.8% of those who voted, according to the exit polls.
The vote was seen as a key test before German parliamentary elections in 2017.
Before the vote in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, all of Germany's other parties ruled out forming a governing coalition with the AfD.
However, the party's strong showing could weaken Mrs Merkel ahead of the national elections next year.
'Rapefugee' message in Rostock as AfD challenges Merkel
Germany jolted by AfD success
Is Merkel really on the ropes?
Profile: AfD leader Frauke Petry
Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, in the former East Germany, is where the chancellor's own constituency is located.
Under her leadership, Germany has been taking in large numbers of refugees and migrants - 1.1 million last year - and anti-immigrant feeling has increased.
The AfD, initially an anti-euro party, has enjoyed a rapid rise as the party of choice for voters dismayed by Mrs Merkel's policy.
But its political power is limited and critics accuse it of engaging in xenophobic scaremongering.

Image copyright AFP

Image caption Local AfD leader Leif-Erik Holm, a former radio presenter, said his party had achieved a "proud result"

The CDU has been the junior coalition partner in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania since 2006 and is likely to remain in the governing coalition. However, its 19% in the election is its worst ever result in the state, German broadcasters said.
BBC Berlin correspondent Damien McGuinness says that following her political embarrassment, Mrs Merkel will now come under greater pressure to change her welcoming position on refugees.
Addressing supporters, local AfD leader Leif-Erik Holm said: "Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of Angela Merkel's chancellorship today."
Mrs Merkel, who is in China for the G20 summit, told Bild newspaper on Saturday: "We did not reduce benefits for anyone in Germany as a result of the aid for refugees. In fact, we actually saw social improvements in some areas.
"We took nothing away from people here. We are still achieving our big goal of maintaining and improving the quality of life in Germany."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37271971

NWN: Get rid of the communist Hag !