"Especially in the east, we see fears of decline, we see an unsettled population, and we all have the responsibility to ensure that... confidence returns,"
"The AfD is continuing to gain ground in the east, and it seems clear that (Merz's) strategy of trying to stop the AfD is not working,"
"Today's eastern Germans feel like "second-class citizens", said Hans Vorlaender, a political science professor at the Dresden University of Technology."
Eastern Germany continues to suffer the effects of de-industrialisation, job losses and outward migration, leaving deep economic and social scars. Those conditions have contributed to a surge in support for the anti-immigration AfD, which now leads polls in all five eastern states and polls around 39 percent in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD’s rise raises the possibility of it leading a state government. Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged widespread fears of decline in the east and emphasized the responsibility to restore confidence among an unsettled population. The situation poses a serious electoral threat to the CDU and coalition partners.
Read at The Local Germany
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