Right-Wing AfD Becomes Most Popular Party In Germany's East Amid Chemnitz Events - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2018) The rating of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) right-wing party saw an increase in light of unrest in the eastern city of Chemnitz, with the party having become the most popular political force among the residents of eastern Germany, leaving behind the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), local media reported.

According to a poll commissioned by the German Bild newspaper, a quarter of respondents (25 percent) in eastern Germany would support the AfD, while Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU alliance enlisted the support of 24 percent of Germans residing in the country's east. The Left party received 18 percent of voting intentions in eastern Germany, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) � 14 percent.

In Germany's west, Merkel's alliance, on the contrary, strengthened its position, having received support of 31 percent of the interviewees. The SPD became the second most-supported party in western Germany (19 percent), while the AfD turned out to be only third (13 percent) in terms of popularity in the country's west.

The poll was conducted among 1,978 Germans on September 6-12.

The city of Chemnitz has seen a wave of mass anti-immigrant rallies and protests in recent weeks, with thousands of people, including far-right radicals, taking to the streets. The rallies were sparked by the murder of a German citizen on August 26, allegedly at the hands of two migrants from Iraq and Syria, who have since been arrested. �