http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1874875,00.html
German neo-Nazis gain a platform by taking seats in regional assembly
Luke Harding in Berlin Monday September 18, 2006
Guardian
Germany's neo-Nazis swept into a regional parliament in the north-east state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern last night, comfortably winning seats in the state's assembly for the first time. An exit poll for ZDF television showed that the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) had won 7.1% of the vote. This is more than the 5% threshold needed for them to win seats. A poll for ARD television gave the NPD 6.7%.
The result appears to confirm fears that the NPD is now an insidious and established part of Germany's political landscape, especially in the country's depressed former communist east. It is the second time the neo-Nazis have entered a regional parliament in three years.
The NPD was likely to win at least 5 seats in the new 71-seat parliament, polls suggested, giving it a platform to expound its racist views. The party will be entitled to state funding and offices.
"I would like to thank all the people who voted for us," the NPD's regional leader, Udo Pastörs, told ZDF television, adding: "We intend to be a hard opposition. The red-red government here has been a catastrophe."
The results came as part of a disappointing evening for Germany's conservative chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose lush Baltic constituency is part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Her Christian Democrat Party (CDU) had a wafer-thin lead, with 30% of the vote, over the rival Social Democrats (SPD). It was not clear whether Social Democrats could continue their coalition with the post-communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).
In Berlin, where there were also elections yesterday, the CDU scored one of its worst results ever. Exit polls suggested the party had polled a paltry 22% of the vote in the capital.
The night's emphatic winner was Berlin's charismatic gay mayor, the Social Democrat Klaus Wowereit, who was re-elected with 31.5%. The NPD failed to win any seats in Berlin. "I'm delighted that Berlin voters have decided to give their votes to democratic parties, and that the NPD has not made it into parliament here," Mr Wowereit told jubilant party supporters.
The Green Party also had a good night. Its share of the vote rose to 13.5%. Mr Wowereit now has the choice of two potential coalition partners in Berlin - the PDS, his current one, or the Greens.
And there was another remarkable result in Berlin. The Grey Panthers - a protest group formed to campaign for pensioners' rights - won nearly 4% of the vote there, almost enough to win it seats in parliament.
Last night Harald Ringstorff, Mecklenburg's incumbent Social Democrat premier, said he was disappointed with the success of the neo-Nazis in his state. "We will spend the next parliament taking issue with them."
The NPD reached the pinnacle of its influence in 1969 when it came close to polling the 5% needed to enter the national parliament, or Bundestag. While the NPD and other far-right parties have little influence on the national stage today, their radical and nationalist views have found acceptance in the east, where unemployment is close to 20%.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
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