Voters in Germany went to the polls last month, and delivered a harsh rebuke of Prime Minister Angela Merkel’s welcoming immigration policy toward incoming migrants fleeing the nearly five year old civil war in Syria and also immigrants from Afghanistan who have also been fleeing violence in their country. A new anti-immigrant, eurosceptic party which was founded in 2013, named Alternative for Germany, performed better than expected, getting approximately 15.1 % of the vote (809, 311 votes), focusing mainly on the issue of the refugee crisis, highlighting the negative aspects coming from the influx of migrants.

“We fought like lions for your land” Andre Poggenburg who is the leader of the AFD in the state of  Saxony- Anhalt. Mr. Poggenburg continued in his victory speech by defining current Prime Minister Merkel as “the worst chancellor in German history.”

Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria ( which started in 2011), Germany has been the main destination for the migrants fleeing into the EU, as the country has been the most welcoming to the refugees, with many policies attracting the migrants to make the long northward.

Fueling the anti-migrant feeling in Germany and across the EU, has been numerous incidents which have been perpetrated by migrants who have been involved in incidents like the New Year’s Eve attacks on numerous women at the Cologne rail station  while celebrating the New Year’s Eve holiday.

In the last months of 2015, Germany has taken in 964,574 migrants putting it on pace to surpass accepting 1 million migrants in 2015 alone, which has not only put a strain on security services within the country, but also on welfare services as many countries within the EU, have asked the EU to loosen the tight budgetary restrictions so that they can better deal with exploding social services costs related to the incoming migrants.

“This is democracy, I am very, very happy” 67 year old Hamburg resident, Gerlach Holm said of the election results, at a victory rally for the AFD, and expressing the rising sentiment across the country. The final election results are as followed, 1) the Green Party coming in first with: 30.3% (1,622,631 votes), 2) the CDU, P.M Merkel’s party, coming in second: 27.0% ( 1,447,249), 3) the AFD coming in third with, 15.1% ( 809,311).

“These results are a serious rebuke for Merkel and the most pronounced protest vote we’ve seen so far”, Holgen Schmieding, who is an analysis at a Berenberg bank.

Germany has taken in the most refugees, with Sweden coming in second and Serbia coming in third. Greece has also taken in a large number of migrants due to the fact that their coast is adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea, which the migrants then use as an entrance point onto Germany (however some do stay inside of Turkey).

“We have fundamental problems in Germany that led to this election result” AFD chief Frauke Petry said, referring mainly to the migrant crisis.

The Green party was also a beneficiary of the elections getting 11 more seats bringing its total to 47, while Ms. Merkel’s CDU party won 42 seats which are down 18 seats and the AFD won 23 seats, and it was its first time running in elections.

However despite the growing opposition to the acceptance of the migrants, German Vice Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel said “There is a clear position that we stand by, humanity and solidarity. We will not change our position now.”

In the end, it is important for the politicians in Germany to listen to the will of the voters in their states and to balance the acceptance of legitimate refugees who are fleeing war with the safety of their citizens which should be their main concern as representatives of the people.

Links to sources:

1. Reuters Link ( 1): https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-election-idUSKCN0WE0ZQ
2. IBT Times Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/02/refugees-welcome-uk-germany-compare-migration
3. BBC Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-3579683
4.  Reuters Link ( 2): https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-election-afd-idUSKCN0WF0V9
5. IBT Times link ( 2): https://www.theguardian.com/world/datablog/2016/mar/14/german-election-afd-gain-remarkable-cdu-angela-merkel