DISCONTENT IN EAST FUELS NATIONALISTS

GERMANY

BAUTZEN, GERMANY The nationalist, anti- migrant Alternative for Germany swept into third place with a robust showing in the former communist East German states, where discontent is widespread over dim economic prospects and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open the country’s doors to migrants has met with its greatest resistance.

The town of Bautzen, in Saxony near the Czech and Polish borders, has been a visible example of such disillusionment, with clashes breaking out in the streets last year between residents and asylum seekers.

In Sunday’s election, voters in the town of 40,000 turned strongly to Alternative for Germany, known as AfD, ousting Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party from a seat it had held for more than 25 years.

AfD won 12.6 per cent of the vote overall, but captured 22.5 per cent in the east. Its success followed a campaign focused on criticism of the chancellor’s decision to open the country’s doors to more than one million asylum seekers over the past two years.