Schwerin, Germany
An extreme-right party with ties to neo-Nazis won a handful of seats in the legislature of an eastern German state this week. The National Democratic Party took 7 percent of the vote in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the former communist state and home district of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Three of the six states that used to make up East Germany now have far-right, openly racist parties represented in their state assemblies. The Munich Süddeutsche Zeitung said the rise of the far right was more dangerous for Germany than for other European countries, because “Germany is in the situation of a dry alcoholic, who is experiencing a relapse.”
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