SCHWERIN: Three German parties agreed on Tuesday to form a centre left-led coalition government in a northeastern state, keeping the AfD out of power despite the farright party having topped regional polls.
The MecklenburgWestern Pomerania poll was one of three regional elections in September in which Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling conservatives performed abysmally, fuelling speculation his own party may seek to oust him.
The anti-immigration, Russia-friendly AfD, which leads in nationwide opinion polls, came first with 38pc of the vote in the state. Merz’s CDU party scored its worst-ever elec-tion result and failed to enter parliament.
But after several weeks of talks, the centre-left SPD, which came second, the Greens and far-left Die Linke announced they had struck a deal to form a government to lead the state, which used to be part of communist East Germany.
‘The negotiations were tough, and mostly ran late into the night,’ State Premier Manuela Schwesig reportedly said, as she announced the agreement in state capital Schwerin. Germany’s mainstream political parties have long maintained a so-called ‘firewall’ policy that aims to keep the far right out of power, in a country still haunted by its Nazi past.-AFP