German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies are heading for their worst state election result in over 60 years in a regional vote on Sunday that is likely to increase tensions within Germany's fragile coalition government.
According to the latest polls, the Christian Social Union (CSU) will win around 34 percent, losing the absolute majority with which the center-right party has controlled its southeastern heartland for most of the post-war period.
Voting stations open at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and broadcasters are expected to publish exit polls shortly after 6 pm (1600 GMT).
One of the biggest winners are likely to be the ecologist, pro-immigration Greens who are projected to more than double their vote share to up to 19 percent and overtake the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) as the second-strongest party.
The regional protest party Free Voters and the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party are both forecast to win roughly 10 percent of the votes.
This could complicate CSU State Premier Markus Soeder's efforts to form a stable coalition government in Bavaria.
The splintered electoral result could force Soeder, who has ruled out a coalition with the AfD, into an awkward alliance with the left-of-centre Greens.
Horst Seehofer, CSU party leader and interior minister in Merkel's federal government, could face calls to give up at least one of his posts following the Bavarian election as his hard-line rhetoric against asylum seekers is likely to scare away voters.
"We've lost trust because of the CSU," Volker Bouffier, deputy party leader of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told Welt am Sonntag newspaper. He accused Seehofer of damaging the image of the CDU/CSU conservative alliance.
Bouffier is premier in the state of Hesse where another regional election will be held later this month.
Seehofer has been among Merkel's fiercest critics following her decision in 2015 to welcome more than 1 million migrants. He has gradually shifted the CSU, the sister party to the CDU, to the right to counter the rise of the AfD party.
Divisions between the conservative allies have widened further since March, when an inconclusive national election forced them into a coalition with the left-leaning SPD.
Merkel's fourth and probably final government has already come close to collapsing twice, in arguments over immigration and a scandal over Germany's former domestic spymaster. The parties are also at odds over how to phase out polluting diesel cars and whether to grant tax cuts for the rich.
Protestors from across Germany marched through Berlin on Saturday against xenophobia and the far right in one of the country's biggest rallies of recent years.Organisers put the turnout at more than 150,000 people for the demonstration, which followed anti-immigration protests in several eastern cities over the summer and a rise in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party before a state election on Sunday.A police spokesman declined to estimate the size of the crowd at the protest, which was organised by rights groups including Amnesty International.Marchers carried placards reading "Build bridges not walls", "United against racism" and "We are indivisible - for an open and free society". Some danced to pop music on a warm autumn day.The arrival of more than a million migrants, many from war zones in the Middle East, has boosted support for the AfD. It is expected to fare well in the election in Bavaria, long a stronghold of the conservative Christian Social Union, a member of the Chancellor Angela Merkel's federal coalition government.German lawmakers slam AfD party for anti-Islamic motionIn August, far-right groups in the eastern city of Chemnitz clashed with police and chased people they believed to be foreign after the fatal stabbing of a German man blamed on two migrants.Similar protests took place in Dresden, Koethen and other eastern cities.Nevertheless, the number of violent attacks on refugees and asylum shelters in Germany has fallen sharply in the first half of this year.Two companies have also warned their German employees about the dangers of populism before the regional election in Bavaria.Survey reveals EU 'irrelevant' to majority of citizens
'United against racism', Germans stage mass protest against far right
An official letter obtained by Anadolu Agency has revealed that Germany has officially been supporting operations of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) in Ethiopia.A letter written and officially sealed by the German Embassy in Addis Ababa in May 2017 vouches for the FETÖ-linked investment group named Kaynak.The then Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn had directed relevant authorities, including trade and education ministries as well as the country's investment commission, to revoke the license of Kaynak due to its ties to the terror group.Desalegn's office also directed the Education Ministry to transfer six schools owned by the FETÖ to Turkey’s Maarif Foundation.Probe into US Embassy shooting in Ankara completedThe schools were not transferred to the foundation.The letter which was signed by diplomat Jutta Luig stresses that Kaynak -- which also manages FETÖ schools in Ethopia -- promotes investments by German companies and businesses in the country and asks Ethiopian officials to provide all necessary convenience to them."German citizens have recently purchased a company called Kaynak Educational and Medical Services based in Addis Ababa. We kindly ask all involved authorities to support our investors wherever possible,” the letter reads.Trial of US pastor Brunson resumes in western TurkeyTerror group strips schools for cashRecently, former employees of Ethiopian FETÖ-linked schools filed a complaint against school administrators and teachers on allegations including the theft of aid money, embezzlement, and tax evasion.Last year, shortly after the Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome said the FETÖ-linked schools -- renamed as Intellectual Schools -- would be handed to the Turkish government, the schools were sold to a German citizen, whom they claimed was an investor.FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.Ankara also accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, including the military, police, and education.FETÖ also has a considerable presence outside Turkey, including private educational institutions that serve as a revenue stream for the terrorist group.
FETÖ terror group afloat in Ethiopia with German support
Germany on Friday urged Saudi Arabia to “fully cooperate” in Turkey’s investigation into the disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.“The German government is seriously concerned over Khashoggi’s disappearance without a trace, and sweeping suspicions [on the disappearance] are horrifying,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference in Berlin.Khashoggi has been missing since Oct. 2, when he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, and several media reports claimed that he was killed at the consulate.Seibert said the a prompt and extensive investigation should clarify the journalist's disappearance.German Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesman Rainer Breul said Germany’s expectations from Saudi Arabia on the matter were also conveyed during Foreign Minister Heiko Maas’s recent meeting with the Saudi ambassador.“Freedom of press, protecting the safety and security of critical journalists is a concern for us. We are now expecting a prompt and reliable investigation,” he said.Saudi delegation arrives in Ankara for Khashoggi probeTurkey has recordings proving Khashoggi was killed inside Saudi consulate: Washington PostTrump: Khashoggi disappearance no reason to stop Saudi investmentsMedia companies, journalists drop out of Saudi event after Khashoggi disappearanceEurope wants full probe over missing Saudi journalist
Germany urges Riyadh to cooperate on missing journalist
German authorities have approved the extradition of the suspect in the rape and murder of Bulgarian television journalist Viktoria Marinova, the prosecutor general of northern city of Celle said on Friday.Bulgarian Severin Krasimirov, 20, who was arrested in Germany, has agreed to an expedited procedure, meaning he should be sent to Bulgaria to stand trial within 10 days, the prosecutor said.Marinova's brutal murder has triggered a debate over the extent of press freedom in the Balkan country and the rights of journalists to pursue investigative reporting.Bulgarian mother says her son killed TV journalistThe statement said Krasimirov denied intending to kill her, raping her or robbing her.He admitted hitting a woman who he did not know in a park on the banks of the Danube in the Bulgarian city of Ruse and then throwing her in a bush while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.Hundreds of people were expected to attend a funeral service for 30-year-old Marinova in her hometown of Ruse on Friday.Bulgarian arrested in Germany, charged with journalist's murder
Germany to extradite suspect in killing of Bulgarian journalist soon