Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative-left coalition government suffered huge losses in Sunday’s European elections, while the far-right, Islamophobic AfD party made major gains.
Merkel coalition suffers heavy losses in Euro elections
MERKEL COALITION SUFFERS BIG LOSSES EP ELECTIONS
Projections by public broadcaster ARD showed Merkel’s Christian Democratic bloc (CDU/CSU) captured only 28.6 percent of the vote, a significant fall from the 35.3 percent it scored in the last European Parliament election five years ago.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government partner the Social Democrat Party (SPD) crashed to 15.3 percent, sharply down from the 27.3 percent of the vote it collected in 2014.
The far-right Islamophobic Alternative for Germany (AfD) is projected to win 10.8 percent of the vote, up from 7.1 percent in the last election. The environmentalist, pro-immigration Green Party enjoyed the biggest climb to a record 20.91 percent, up from 10.7 percent in the last election.
Turnout, estimated to be at 59 percent, was nearly 11 points higher than the previous European Parliament elections in 2014.