AfD wins 14 percent in Berlin, coming in fifth among 7 parties

AfD co-chair Jörg Meuthen, left, and candidate Georg Pazderski celebrate the election results which came in as well as they could have hoped.

UPDATE: Final results:  AfD party - 14.2%!  The Social Democrats (SPD) - 21.6. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) -17.6. The Left party 15.6.  Green Party - 15.2. Free Democrats (FDP) - 6.7. Pirate Party - 1.7. CONGRATULATIONS AFD!

[UPDATED] THE ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY PARTY (AfD) POLLED AT 14.2 percent it's first time on the ballot in Berlin, giving it about 25 seats in the regional assembly. This is considered a big victory for the anti-immigrant party in “multi-cultural Berlin … a city of millions that is known for its open lifestyle,” as written in the Frankfurter Allegemeine Sunday paper.

The long-ruling Social Democrats (SPD) won the most seats by polling at 21.6 percent, losing 6.7 points from the last election in 2011. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) came in second at 17.6 percent, down 5.7 from 2011. The Left (Communist) party gained 3.9 and the Green Party lost 2.4 since 5 years ago. 

Behind the AfD are the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) at 6.7 percent (up 4.9) and the Pirates Party which was reduced to 1.7  from 8.9 percent in 2011, marking its exit from the legislature.

"We have achieved a great result," said AfD deputy leader Beatrix von Storch. "The AfD has arrived in the German capital and is also on a direct path to the Bundestag."

The Berlin SPD must now form a new coalition government, which is expected to include the third and fourth place Left Party and Green Party, dropping the 2nd place Christian Democrats ... since both the SPD and CDU lost ground in this election. Another more conservative possibility is the SPD-CDU-FDP.

Merkel pleads 'ethical, Christian' necessity to admit migrants

The results are considered another blow to Merkel's party. CDU's Michael Grosse-Bromer said Sunday the party cannot be satisfied with the 5.7 drop from 2011, its worst performance ever in the capital. On Monday, Angela Merkel accepted partial blame for her party's poor showing, but would not commit to a change in policy. She blamed it on poor commication! She said:

"I'm the party chairwoman, and I'm not going to duck responsibility. If one of the reasons for the CDU's poor showing is that the direction, goal and conviction behind our refugee policy haven't been explained well enough, I'll endeavor to rectify that."

She also blamed it on the German people themselves, that they lacked sufficient practice integrating immigrants.

"It can't be done quickly, among other things because we didn't do everything correctly in past years. We weren't exactly world champions in integration, and we waited too long before we addressed the refugee issue. We have to get better - I do as well."

"We waited too long before we addressed the refugee issue" seems to mean Germany remained "German" too long in the 21st century.  Millions of Turks entered Germany since 1950, became citizens, but did not integrate all that well. But that is a far cry from 1.1 million uneducated and unschooled, mainly young male Africans and Middle Easterners pouring into Germany in a few months time! It shows Merkel is not backing down from her hard goal to make Germany multi-cultural at all costs. She used an emotional appeal by saying that "for ethical reasons" neither she nor her party (Christian Democrats) could change course and reject refugees whether Muslim or non-Muslim.

Outrageous. She therefore ought to be replaced before the 2017 election by her own party. The only hope for real change is the AfD, which must get stronger, faster. Another encouraging factor is that a Trump victory in the U.S. could give Europeans more courage to come out for their preservation as a people with the "ethical" right to reject foreign invaders.