GERMANY: Eastern German voters abandoned established parties yesterday in favour of the extreme left-wing and right-wing parties in two state elections yesterday.
However, losses for the Social Democrats (SPD) of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in state elections in Brandenburg and Saxony were less dramatic than anticipated compared to the dramatic losses for the Christian Democrats (CDU).
The big winners were the reformed communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), now the second-strongest party in Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin, with 28 per cent of the vote. In neighbouring Saxony, the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) will enter the first German state parliament since 1968 after coming from nowhere to capture 9 per cent of the vote, now as popular in Saxony as the SPD.
"This is a great day for all Germans who want to remain German," said Mr Holger Apfel, state NPD leader, on public television before being cut off by the host as he launched into a nationalistic rant.
As he spoke, the other party leaders gathered in the television studio walked out, suggesting the NPD will be ostracised in the state parliament in Dresden.
The SPD was prepared for the worst yesterday considering the huge "Monday demos" for the last eight weeks protesting against economic reforms.
Chancellor Schröder went on the counter-attack on Friday, saying that, without reform, Germans' take what you can mentality towards social welfare benefits would drive the state to ruin.
The SPD's losses yesterday suggest that, though its run of state election losses continue, the wind may be changing. The SPD leader, Mr Franz Münterfering, said the results were "not the black eye" the party was expecting, but "an unambiguous victory".
"The message is that even in difficult times, this is a happy day for the SPD," he said.
"It shows that all those waiting for a bad result were disappointed and that the CDU is not as sure of itself as it thought." Mr Manfred Stolpe, the transport minister and former state premier in Brandenburg said: "There are certainly signs that the people understand change is necessary." The head of the PDS in Brandenburg called on the SPD to drop the CDU and form a coalition government in Potsdam, as is already the case in the city-state of Berlin.
Across the border in Saxony, the CDU lost its absolute majority thanks to the worst result at state level since unification in 1990.
Electoral analysts said the results would have no major effect on German federal politics but was still a strong protest vote against the established parties.
"You can see this in the sharp rise in support for extreme parties," said analyst Prof Karl-Rudolf Korte.