East Germany turning Red

The stunning performance of the 10-year old party has been described by commentators in the German media as a “radical and extreme” result and a loud vote of no-confidence to Germany’s main western parties of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.

The success of the extreme rightists backed by a millionaire publisher from Munich has completely overshadowed the victory of Social Democrats whose Gerhard Schroder is the frontrunner in the opinion polls to wrest the German Chancellorship from Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl to end the latter’s uninterrupted 16-year rule.The Rightist party, which did not contest the1984 elections, bagged 16 seats accounting for one-eighth of the votes in an election which saw a 15 per cent increase in the voter turnout.

Social Democrats increased its tally to 47 seats from 36 with a marginal increase in vote share to 36 per cent while Kohl’s Christian Democrats voter support reduced substantially by 12 per cent to secure 28 seats compared to 37 in the previous elections.Mutual recriminations between the rival parties-Christian Democrats and Social Democrats were being held responsible for the rise of the extreme Rightists which targeted its attack on Germany’s nine million foreigners for “stealing” jobs at the cost of the local population.

While Christian Democrats said it was a “setback”, Social Democrats expressed their disappointment over the result which would be a key indicator in the crucial German elections in September. An editorial in Suddeutsche Zeitung noted that the only good thing about the DVU showing was that no one can now close their eyes to the radicalRight.