Angela Merkel Suffers Humiliating Loss to New Anti-Immigration AfD Party

The right-wing, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has placed second in state elections, ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in her home state, exit polls say.

According to the latest estimates by the German ZDF channel, the AfD has received over 21 percent of the vote in the local elections in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has so far placed third, gaining 19 percent of the votes, compared to 23 in the previous elections in 2011. The ruling Socialist Democratic Party (SPD) has garnered 30 percent, which is 5 percent less than four years ago.

The projected win for the AfD, whose leaders have repeatedly demanded tougher anti-immigrant laws and lambasted Merkel for her open-door policy towards refugees, comes just a year before the federal elections.

"This is a slap in the face for Merkel,” AfD co-leader Frauke Petry said.

“The voters made a clear statement against Merkel's disastrous immigration policies. This put her in her place."

Speaking to RT, the head of AfD’s Berlin branch, Georg Pazderski, said that the support his party gained in Merkel’s home state is because “people see that there is something wrong with this country” and that change is needed.

Pazderski also voiced optimism that the AfD will get enough votes to make it into the federal parliament (Bundestag) in next year’s elections.

“We are bringing people to the ballot box [who] did not vote five years ago,” he said, referring to recent polls that say 40 percent of AfD voters ignored the last elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.