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.