Far Right worry for Merkel

A FAR-RIGHT anti-foreigner party has embarrassed German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a regional election in her home state and delivered a wake-up call to her 10-month-old government, analysts warned yesterday.

The government has compared the National Democratic Party (NPD) to Hitler’s Nazis, and analysts and columnists said the NPD’s performance in Sunday’s ballot was a rebuke for the grand coalition’s fumbled first year.

The NPD polled 7.3% in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany’s poorest state on the Baltic near Poland, claiming six seats in the 71-seat state parliament.

“In view of German history, this is a disaster,” said Christian Wulff, conservative state premier in neighboring Lower Saxony, referring to the country’s Nazi past.

Several leading newspapers said the NPD’s performance in a state that relies heavily on tourism was a clear warning to Merkel, whose right-left coalition took power in November and has yet to deliver on some of its promised reforms.