Germany's ruling CDU wins local elections in key state, as AfD surges

"Merz's centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won about 33.3 percent of the vote in his home state of North Rhine-Westphalia, preliminary results showed on Monday. list of 4 itemsend of list The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) came in second with 22.1 percent, followed by the AfD, which won 14.5 percent. The figure marks a 9.4 percentage-point increase in support for the nationalist, anti-immigration party since the last election."

"North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wust, of the CDU, hailed the outcome, calling his state the powerhouse of the governing party. But the strong showing for the AfD, Wust told public broadcaster ARD, must give us food for thought. The outcome cannot let us sleep peacefully, he said, and centrist politicians must ask themselves what the right answers are when it comes to poverty and migration."

"German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative party has won local elections in the country's most populous state, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) nearly tripled its share of the vote from five years ago. The AfD's coleaders were jubilant. Alice Weidel called the results a huge success, while Tino Chrupalla offered congratulations to the party's supporters. This is a great success for us, Chrupalla wrote in a post on X. We are a people's party and we all bear a great responsibility for Germany."

The CDU won about 33.3% of the vote in North Rhine-Westphalia local elections, with the SPD on 22.1% and the AfD on 14.5%. The AfD's support rose by 9.4 percentage points compared with five years earlier, marking a significant increase for the nationalist, anti-immigration party in western Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wust praised the CDU outcome but warned the AfD result requires reflection on poverty and migration responses. AfD leaders celebrated and framed the party as a people's party bearing responsibility for Germany. The vote was the first electoral test for Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Read at www.aljazeera.com