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Far right gains in east germany Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/21/international/europe/21germany.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/21/international/europe/21germany.html
Far-Right Gains in Germany Not Seen as Specter of Weimar
By MARK LANDLER
FRANKFURT, Sept. 20 - A day after far-right parties made striking gains in state elections in eastern Germany, political analysts cautioned against drawing parallels to the political extremism of the Weimar Republic.
The spectacle of angry and dispossessed voters turning to the extreme right wing, as they did this past weekend, has an obvious historical echo for Germans. But most experts said those parties would find it difficult to replicate their success in western Germany or on a national level.
The Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and the opposition Christian Democrats are more deeply rooted in the west, as is suspicion of far-right groups like the National Democratic Party of Germany, which won nearly 10 percent of the vote in the eastern state state of Saxony.
Mr. Schröder's economic reforms, while unpopular, have not fanned as much fear in western Germany, where the jobless rate is less than half that in the east, and the government's plan to curtail unemployment benefits has been greeted with resignation rather than revolt.
"This is not a danger for democracy in the Federal Republic,'' said Hajo Funke, a political scientist at the Free University of Berlin. "It's an anti-establishment vote, which is still limited to the east.''
The success of the National Democrats is no doubt a cause for concern, Professor Funke said, particularly because of their links to skinheads and other violent right-wing gangs. But he and several other German experts sought to distinguish between the economically depressed east, which has become fertile ground for extremism, and the more stable, moderate west.
"There is a more widespread authoritarian mood in eastern Germany,'' Professor Funke said. "There is also a less well-developed sense of democracy, only 15 years after the reunification.''
Indeed, the Party of Democratic Socialism, as the former East German Communists are now called, also benefited from the anti-establishment fervor, increasing its votes in both Saxony and Brandenburg. In a region with a jobless rate of nearly 20 percent, its image as the workers' party played well.
The bigger danger, analysts say, is that Germany seems to be cleaving into two political camps, with westerners grudgingly accepting the need for economic reform while many in the east seek solace on the political fringe, whether left or right. German newspapers were full of hand-wringing commentary, while mainstream political leaders sounded a warning.
"This must be of concern to every democrat,'' Chancellor Schröder said Monday of the right-wing resurgence.
The chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Franz Müntefering, said German democracy was sturdy enough to confront the National Democrats and the slightly less radical German People's Union, which won 6.1 percent of the vote in Brandenburg, a gain over its previous showing. "Those neo-Nazis will never again have any opportunity in Germany,'' he said.
In a front-page commentary, the financial newspaper Handelsblatt declared, "No, democracy is not in danger.''
But the major parties were both harshly rebuked by voters in Saxony. The Social Democrats barely eked out more votes than the National Democratic Party, while the Christian Democrats tumbled from 56 percent of the vote in 1999 to 41 percent, losing their majority in Parliament.
The National Democratic Party, which the German government tried fruitlessly to ban in 2001, is likely to end up with 12 seats in the Saxon state Parliament, only one fewer than the Social Democrats. It is the first time since 1968 that it has gained a foothold in any state parliament.
Officials in Saxony said they did not plan to give the National Democratic Party any role in legislating. Martin Gillo, the minister for labor and economic development, said the Christian Democrats would walk out of the chamber whenever a member of the party rose to speak.
"Their presence will be treated like empty air,'' he said. "They will not exist. None of their proposals will be adopted.''
Some analysts said Saxony's habit of ignoring the extreme right is what laid the groundwork for its success there. In Brandenburg, where the German People's Union has had a small but hardy franchise since 1999, the state government sponsors programs that teach political tolerance.
In Saxony, which the Christian Democrats have ruled in a paternalistic style since reunification, the National Democrats quietly built a grass-roots network in the countryside and small towns, many of which were blighted economically by the demise of the coal-mining industry.
The dismal showing of the Christian Democrats has implications for federal elections in 2006. While Mr. Schröder has seemed almost like a lame duck, absorbing one electoral setback after another, the vote on Sunday calls into question the ability of the conservatives to offer an alternative.
"With both parties spiraling down, we have these gains on the fringes, both on the left and right,'' Professor Funke said.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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