Right-wing Alternative for Germany Party scores shock results in three German regions

SHE’S a young scientist with a beautiful smile, and her stunning electoral results are scaring leaders across Europe.

Head of right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) Frauke Petry attends a press conference in Berlin, on March 14, 2016 a day after election in three regional states. In Sunday's vote, the AfD captured seats into all three states and gained as much as one in four votes in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, emerging as the second biggest party. In Rhineland-Palatinate, it rose to become the third largest. / AFP PHOTO / John MACDOUGALL

SHE’S the young chemist with the smile that “brings the terror back into German politics” according to one left wing commentator — and Frauke Petry has plenty to smile about.

The leader of Germany’s right wing Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) is celebrating huge gains in three regions following elections this weekend, in what is the first electoral test for Chancellor Angela Merkel following the refugee crisis.

It’s a remarkable result for a party formed just three years ago and led by the east German former scientist whose youth and gender put her at odds with a lot of her older, male supporters.

“A historic event, thanks very much for your trust and support,” Ms Petry wrote on social media after the event which saw the party win more than 12 per cent of the vote in Rheinland-Pfalz, 24 per cent in Saschsen-Anhalt and 15 per cent in Baden-Wurttemberg

“Yesterday we made an important first step in the right direction to break the cartels of consensus parties. Already, it has indicated that it will not accept the will of the people ... please continue to support us, there is much to do!”

Riot police block a protest march against the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany in Stuttgart. Picture: AFP/Felix Kästle.

The success is being billed as a turning point for Germany’s stable, consensus-driven political system and has put it on track with countries like the US, Spain, France and UK who have seen a surge for right-wing politicians and anti-immigrant rhetoric in recent years.

The victory is also a major coup for the mother-of-four who took over the leadership from founder Bernd Lucke last year and refocused its anti-Europe message into one specifically opposed to immigration.

Earlier this month, she made headlines for saying police should have the powers to shoot migrants and refugees trying to enter the country. It prompted German police to respond that such comments revealed an inhumane and radical way of thinking.

Author Hans Hutt compared her to Dr Strangelove and said her “smile ... brings the terror back into German politics” in a left-wing newspaper.

Ms Petry said the results showed that voters are turning away from “big established parties” in large numbers. “They “expect us finally to be the opposition that there hasn’t been in the German parliament and some state parliaments,” she said.

While the party won’t have actual power due to the way coalition governments have formed against it, the strong results were widely seen as a protest vote against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open door policy on refugees.

Germany has taken in more than 1.1 million migrants since the refugee crisis began in 2015’s northern summer, with current flows blamed by some on Merkel’s “welcome” policy that saw her waive the Dublin rules for Syrians and allow them to resettle in the country.

The move led to protests from the anti-Islamist PEGIDA movement, particularly in Germany’s north. Some of the ADF leaders have also voiced sympathy for the movement in a trend which has been likened to the rise of far-right politicians like Marine Le Pen in France and Donald Trump in the US.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will not change her migrant policy, which has seen more than 1.1 million people enter the country in the last year. Picture: AP Photo/Michael Sohn.

The popular Bild newspaper called the results a “day of horror” for Merkel, while Spiegel Online called it “Black Sunday” for her party. ING-DiBa bank’s analyst Carsten Brzeski called the move towards more radical politics Germany’s “loss of innocence” and said the party’s rise showed Germany has “finally lost its immunity against populist parties.”

Die Zeit weekly said the refugee crisis has opened a “dangerous chasm” fed by mistrust of politicians and people’s fears they would be overrun.

“The consensus model is no longer working, the binding power of the major parties has long been dwindling,” it said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged migration had dominated elections but said she wouldn’t change her policy.

“I am firmly convinced, and that wasn’t questioned today, that we need a European solution and that this solution needs time,” she said.

The move was backed by her allies but criticised by others. Christian Socialist Union leader Horst Seehofer said the result is a “tectonic shift” that needed recognising.

“It cannot be possible that the answer to such an election outcome is that everything will continue as before,” he said.