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GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel sought a new coalition with the Greens and free-market liberal FDP yesterday after losing ground to the right in Sunday’s election.
Ms Merkel’s centre-right CDU slumped to 33 per cent of the vote from 41.5 per cent in 2013. Her Social Democratic Party (SPD) “grand coalition” allies hit a post-war low of 20.5 per cent, down from 25.7, and immediately ruled out returning to government with the CDU.
The gains were picked up by the FDP and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) — a racist, Eurosceptic party with a large fascist wing.
NICK WRIGHT returns to Berlin and finds a city in darkness and political turmoil
From Reform UK to Trump, Orban and beyond, the far right is organised across borders and growing. Waiting for it to collapse is a fatal error – building an international, locally rooted left alternative is now an urgent necessity., argues ROGER McKENZIE
The cancelled China trip of the German Foreign Minister marks a break with Helmut Schmidt’s China policy and drives Germany further into Washington’s confrontation course, warns SEVIM DAGDELEN