German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party has suffered an electoral blow in Berlin state elections, two weeks after her Christian Democrats (CDU) party came third in an eastern state amid a growing backlash against her immigration policy.
The anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained support, capitalising on anger over Merkel’s open-door refugee policy that has allowed one million asylum seekers into Germany, with 70,000 of them coming to Berlin.
AfD, which has campaigned heavily on the refugee issue, managed to garner 12.2 percent of the vote and will enter its tenth regional assembly of the country's 16 states.
CDU's coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), also lost support, falling to 23.1 percent from 28.3 percent but remained the biggest party and is likely to ditch Merkel's party from their current coalition.
The Social Democrats, Merkel's junior coalition partner at the federal level, may strike deals with Greens and the Left party, each of them getting 16.5 percent of the vote.
A backlash against the chancellor's immigrant policy has raised questions about whether Merkel, Europe's most powerful leader, will stand for a fourth term next year.
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