WEEKEND: Fearing far-right surge, Merkel tells Germans to vote… Anti-Immigrant Party Upswing Threatens to Unsettle Politics

Fears in Germany that voter apathy could boost the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Sunday’s election have driven Chancellor Angela Merkel and her main rival in final days of the campaign to urge their backers to go out and vote.

With many voters viewing a fourth term for Merkel as almost inevitable and turned off by a turgid campaign – occasionally punctured by heckling and tomato hurling in protest at Merkel’s refugee policy – pollsters say turnout may be low.

A GMS poll on Thursday said those not planning to vote or were undecided numbered 34 percent, higher than the 29 percent who did not vote in the last election in 2013.

“My request to everyone is that they vote, and vote for those parties that adhere 100 percent to our constitution,” Merkel told MDR radio on Thursday, pointing to the AfD which has been likened by some commentators to Hitler’s Nazis.

Some of its members have called for Germans to rewrite the history books on Nazi era and the party has been dogged by rows over Holocaust denial, a crime in Germany.

Although polls show conservative Merkel, trusted by stability-loving Germans to stand up to unpredictable leaders in the United States, Russia and Turkey, is on track to win, the shape of her coalition is wide open.

Most pollsters say a low turnout could boost the AfD which has gained popularity by focusing on migration and security.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/merkels-party-dips-poll-still-way-ahead-sunday-083338507.html