Neo-Nazis make major gains in state elections
Germany's Neo-Nazi National Democratic Party made sweeping gains in important elections in the eastern state of Saxony yesterday after a shock protest vote that reflected the widespread unpopularity of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's economic reform programme.
Germany's Neo-Nazi National Democratic Party made sweeping gains in important elections in the eastern state of Saxony yesterday after a shock protest vote that reflected the widespread unpopularity of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's economic reform programme.
In the conservative-controlled state, the National Democrats (NPD) won seats in a regional state parliament for the first time in 36 years after the first exit-poll results showed that the party had won 9 per cent of the vote.
The extreme-right Deutsche Volks Union also retained seats in Brandenburg state elections. However Mr Schröder's Social Democrats remained the strongest party in the state despite substantial gains by the reformed-communist Party for Democratic Socialism (PDS.)
In Saxony, Mr Schröder's party suffered humiliating losses and emerged only half a point ahead of the NPD with 9.5 per cent of the vote. The state's conservative party lost its absolute majority and was expected to form a coalition with the liberal Free Democrats.
The NPD, which last entered a German state parliament in 1968, campaigned on a "German money for German interests" platform which included vigorous opposition to European Union enlargement, foreign immigration, and government plans to cut benefits for the long-term unemployed.
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