State elections will be held on September 2 in Germany's Brandenburg and Saxony where both Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the SPD are expected to lose support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party
Alternative for Germany party top candidate for the Brandenburg election Andreas Kalbitz speaks during an election campaign event ahead of the upcoming Brandenburg and Saxony state elections in Koenigs Wusterhausen, Germany August 30, 2019. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi
The AfD is harnessing voter anger over refugees and the planned closure of coal mines in the two regions and cast themselves as the heirs of the demonstrators who brought about the fall of the Berlin Wall three decades ago.The SPD is almost tied with the anti-immigrant AfD in Brandenburg, where an unprecedented victory for the far-right party would amplify leftist voices in the centre-left party who want out of the coalition to rebuild in opposition.
The SPD has been run by an interim leadership team since their leader stepped down in June after painful losses in the elections for the European Parliament and support for the party nationally is at a record low of about 15%. "The coalition is no end in itself for us," Ralph Brinkhaus, conservative leader in the national parliament warned the SPD in an interview with Focus Magazine. "We as conservatives are surely not going to bend over backwards just to reach 2021."But support for the conservatives in the state of 4 million people on the border with Poland and the Czech Republic is expected to fall by more than 7 points to 32% as they lose voters to both the AfD and Greens.
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