SCHWERIN (Germany), Sept 17: A far-right party compared to the early Nazis by the German government has won seats in a regional parliament, helped by a weak economy and anger with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition.

Preliminary results showed the National Democratic Party (NPD), which advocates closing German borders to immigrants, won 7.2 per cent of the vote in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a northeastern state on the Baltic Sea which borders Poland.

If confirmed that result would allow the NPD to enter the regional assembly, making Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the third state in the ex-communist east with far-right representation.

The result alarmed mainstream politicians and Jewish groups, who called on the federal government to renew its bid to ban the party after a previous attempt failed.

“The government must look for ways to impose a ban,” Dieter Graumann, vice-president of the Central Council for Jews in Germany, told Reuters.

Results in the state showed the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) marginally ahead of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and on track to continue their ruling coalition with the reformed communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).

Election data showed 15 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds voted NPD in Mecklenburg.

In a federal election exactly one year ago, Merkel won a disappointingly narrow victory over her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, forcing her into a coalition with his SPD party.

Many Germans had hoped her ‘grand coalition’, with its big majorities in both houses of parliament, would be able to push through crucial reforms.

But it has been plagued by infighting and struggled to deliver promised changes to the healthcare system. Experts say this has helped boost smaller parties like the NPD.

In a separate election in the German capital and city-state of Berlin on Sunday, the SPD under popular Mayor Klaus Wowereit remained the largest party as expected.

The result should allow Wowereit — who won admirers in 2001 by outing himself with the words “I’m gay and that’s a good thing” — to continue to rule alongside the PDS or perhaps opt for a new coalition with the environmentalist Greens.—Reuters