Merkel admits Germany's migrant policies played factor in vote losses
After her party's worst-ever performance in a Berlin state election, the chancellor takes responsibility, acknowledging there's more work to be done concerning the migrants, including to prevent terror attacks.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken partial responsibility for her party’s worst-ever performance in a Berlin state election, acknowledging that her government’s migrants policies were a factor.
Merkel pledged to work harder to address people’s concerns, particularly on migrants. Her Christian Democratic Union party, 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.
‘‘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 massive challenge that the country faces integrating hundreds of thousands of migrants.
She also acknowledged that for years Germany had benefited from rules that required migrants to apply for asylum in the first European Union country they enter, shielding her government from the pressure felt by other nations on the bloc’s frontiers.
She reiterated her view that Germany has already performed a herculean task to cope with the unprecedented influx of migrants over the past year but acknowledged that more work needs to be done, including to prevent extremist attacks of the kind seen over the summer.
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.While the Berlin vote was partly seen as a referendum on Merkel’s handling of the migrant crisis, the state government has no control over Germany’s immigration policy. The left-leaning coalition that could now take over would likely be more welcoming of migrants.
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 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.
