Neo-Nazis poised to win seats in German state parliament
Pastor Dale Morgan
Neo-Nazis poised to win seats in German state parliament*
· Polls put party above 5% threshold for success
· Poor economic conditions in east fuel discontent
Luke Harding in Berlin
Saturday September 16, 2006
The Guardian
Germany's racist neo-Nazi party is poised to make a stunning
breakthrough at elections this weekend, entering a regional parliament
for the second time in three years, polls suggest.
According to a poll for ZDF television, the far-right National Party of
Germany (NPD) is likely to win 7% of the vote in elections on Sunday in
the north-east state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A poll by Infratest puts
the party on 6%.
The projected result is above the 5% of the vote parties must achieve
before they can sit in parliament, and means the far-right MPs could
have seats for the first time. "We are very confident. It's extremely
likely we are going to make it," Michael Andrejewski, the NPD's
candidate in its stronghold town of Anklam, told the Guardian yesterday.
Mr Andrejewski said voters in Germany's depressed former communist east
were turning to the neo-Nazi right because they were disillusioned with
mainstream politics and fed up with the region's unemployment rate.
Article continues
"People are furious. They are disappointed with this government.
Unemployment here is 30%. If we can win here we will have established a
trend. Our mid-term goal is to win seats in the Bundestag [Germany's
federal parliament]."
A result above 5% would be an embarrassment for Germany's leader, Angela
Merkel, whose seaside Baltic constituency is part of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The region is abundant in lakes and forests, but
is one of the most economically depressed parts of the country.
Unemployment is officially put at 18%.
Hundreds of neo-Nazis have flooded into the state. The party has teamed
up with local Kameradschaften, gangs of far-right skinheads - some of
whom are standing as NPD candidates. Volunteers have hung up thousands
of xenophobic placards and distributed copies of the party's far-right
newspaper, the Island Messenger. They have also intimidated workers from
other parties, it is alleged.
Rival candidates concede the NPD has waged a meticulous, professional
campaign. "I have to admit that to a certain degree we have failed,"
said Uwe Schulz, Anklam's Social Democratic candidate.
Mr Schulz, whose party governs in the state's regional assembly in
Schwerin with the post-communist Party of Democratic Socialism, added:
"My father came back from the second world war with a leg missing. These
people appear to have learned nothing from the Nazi era. To hear these
ideas and slogans again makes me furious."
Nationally, the NPD has had little impact. But in 2004 it won 9.25% of
the vote in the east German state of Saxony in a surprise result,
entering a regional parliament for the first time since 1968. Victory
tomorrow would confirm fears that the party is an established feature of
Germany's political landscape, analysts say.
In several Baltic villages in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the far-right now
provides social services. It runs businesses and organises discos. The
NPD has abandoned its skinhead image, fielding candidates in immaculate
suits.
"There are a large number of people in east Germany who have become
estranged from democracy," said Hajo Funke, a political scientist at
Berlin's Free University. "Mainstream parties have failed to address
local problems."
Günter Hoffmann, founder of Anklam anti-Nazi group Bunt statt Braun,
said: "The big mistake happened after the fall of the Berlin wall. The
need to establish and teach democracy in the east was overlooked. We are
now picking up the bill."
The quiet, stealthy rise of extremism in the state is linked to its
woeful economic condition, analysts say. After reunification in 1990
manufacturing industry collapsed. Anklam's population shrank from 22,000
to 14,000 as the young fled west.
Success for the NPD tomorrow is likely to provoke an anguished debate
among the ruling Christian and Social Democrats about what went wrong.
Both govern in Berlin in a coalition led by Mrs Merkel.