Anti-immigration AfD Is Second To Merkel's Bloc In Germany

Accra, Sept. 21 - (DPA/GNA) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition is losing ground among the German electorate while support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is on the rise, according to a poll published Friday.

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) would garner 45 per cent of the votes in an election, according to a survey from broadcaster ARD carried out between September 17 and 19.

The CDU/CSU conservative bloc would gain 28 per cent, making it the largest force in the country - but with the lowest score since the poll began in 1997.

The AfD would achieve 18 per cent, up from the 12.6 per cent in the elections held in September last year.

The SPD saw a fall to 17 per cent, down from 20.5 per cent in the election and all time low in this poll, which consulted 1,035 eligible voters.

The environmentalist Greens were on 15 per cent, well up from 8.9 per cent in the elections, while the hard-left Linke party was on 10, up marginally from 9.2 per cent in September last year, and the liberal FDP was on 9 per cent, down from 10.7 per cent.

It took Merkel an unusually long time, six months, to build the coalition. After failed negotiations with the FDP and the Greens, Merkel eventually persuaded the somewhat reluctant SPD to reenter coalition government. The three-way power sharing deal has been rocked by repeated crises, mostly over migration policy.

GNA