Merkel’s party takes hit at polls

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel took partial responsibility for her party’s worst-ever performance in a Berlin state election, acknowledging Monday that her government’s policies at the national level were a factor.

Merkel pledged to work harder to address people’s concerns, particularly on refugees. Her Christian Democratic Union party, or CDU, received just 17.6 percent of the vote in the German capital.

“That’s very bitter,” Merkel said in Berlin, referring to the drop of almost six percentage points her party suffered.

The result means that Berlin state’s current coalition government, in which the CDU is the junior partner to the center-left Social Democrats, or SPD, has no majority going forward. A three-way coalition of Social Democrats, the Green Party and the Left Party is now likely in the capital.

Both CDU and SPD — which saw its share of the vote drop 6.7 points to 21.6 percent — lost voters to the nationalist Alternative for Germany, which has campaigned heavily against immigration. The party, known as AfD, entered its 10th state parliament Sunday with 14.2 percent of the vote. The nationalists’ strong result is particularly remarkable because the city of 3.5 million is usually known for its liberal attitude.

“I take responsibility as party leader and chancellor,” Merkel said at a news conference alongside her party’s mayoral candidate, Frank Henkel.

Speaking in unusually self-critical terms, Merkel edged away from her oft-repeated mantra — first uttered during the height of the migrants crisis last year — that “we will manage.”

Merkel said that while she stands by the sentiment, some voters had taken it as a provocation in view of the huge challenge that the country faces integrating hundreds of thousands of migrants. “Not every refugee came to our country with good intentions,” she said.