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Today in two German (federal) states, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, parliamentarian elections are taking place.

Both states, including the former West-Berlin, are located in the east of the country. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern(M.V.) is located in the far east of Germany, on the border to Poland and the Baltic Sea(like the eastern part of Berlin it's a part of the former GDR/East Germany).

Already a few days ago German newspapers, such as Berliner Zeitung, wrote about the "phenomenon" that a large majority of the voters, especialy in the east of Germany, don't believe in democracy anymore. Instead more than 60 percent of the voters think that the "Socialism is a good model for the society".  

In this situation it will be perhaps no surprise that a large percentage of the voters will elect a neo-Nazi party. Because they represent a real German "Socialism" for them, just a National "Socialism". A "Socialism" where the state is strong, where "law and order" is ruling, where no foreigners are disturbing their life, where work places are reserved only for Germans(even there are only few foreigners living in this regions!!).. Slogans like "German 'Socialism' instead of the One-World-Order" or National 'Socialism' against globalization" are very attractive for large parts of the population, especially in the former East Germany. So it's no surprise that representatives of neo-Nazi organisations are arrived since long time in the middle of the society, they are nor just "honored" parts of many eastern communities.

Anyway.. in about 4 hours we know more about the results of the elections..

Skinhead family father and neo-Nazi

election propaganda in M.V.

About the role of neo-Nazi organisations in this election campaign The Guardian(UK) wrote yesterday following:

Neo-Nazis poised to win seats in German state parliament

· Polls put party above 5% threshold for success
· Poor economic conditions in east fuel discontent

Germany's racist neo-Nazi party is poised to make a stunning breakthrough at elections this weekend, entering a regional parliament for the second time in three years, polls suggest.

According to a poll for ZDF television, the far-right National Party of Germany (NPD) is likely to win 7% of the vote in elections on Sunday in the north-east state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A poll by Infratest puts the party on 6%.

The projected result is above the 5% of the vote parties must achieve before they can sit in parliament, and means the far-right MPs could have seats for the first time. "We are very confident. It's extremely likely we are going to make it," Michael Andrejewski, the NPD's candidate in its stronghold town of Anklam, told the Guardian yesterday.

Mr Andrejewski said voters in Germany's depressed former communist east were turning to the neo-Nazi right because they were disillusioned with mainstream politics and fed up with the region's unemployment rate.

"People are furious. They are disappointed with this government. Unemployment here is 30%. If we can win here we will have established a trend. Our mid-term goal is to win seats in the Bundestag [Germany's federal parliament]."

A result above 5% would be an embarrassment for Germany's leader, Angela Merkel, whose seaside Baltic constituency is part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The region is abundant in lakes and forests, but is one of the most economically depressed parts of the country. Unemployment is officially put at 18%.

Hundreds of neo-Nazis have flooded into the state. The party has teamed up with local Kameradschaften, gangs of far-right skinheads - some of whom are standing as NPD candidates. Volunteers have hung up thousands of xenophobic placards and distributed copies of the party's far-right newspaper, the Island Messenger. They have also intimidated workers from other parties, it is alleged.

Rival candidates concede the NPD has waged a meticulous, professional campaign. "I have to admit that to a certain degree we have failed," said Uwe Schulz, Anklam's Social Democratic candidate.

Mr Schulz, whose party governs in the state's regional assembly in Schwerin with the post-communist Party of Democratic Socialism, added: "My father came back from the second world war with a leg missing. These people appear to have learned nothing from the Nazi era. To hear these ideas and slogans again makes me furious."

Nationally, the NPD has had little impact. But in 2004 it won 9.25% of the vote in the east German state of Saxony in a surprise result, entering a regional parliament for the first time since 1968. Victory tomorrow would confirm fears that the party is an established feature of Germany's political landscape, analysts say.

In several Baltic villages in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the far-right now provides social services. It runs businesses and organises discos. The NPD has abandoned its skinhead image, fielding candidates in immaculate suits.

"There are a large number of people in east Germany who have become estranged from democracy," said Hajo Funke, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University. "Mainstream parties have failed to address local problems."

Günter Hoffmann, founder of Anklam anti-Nazi group Bunt statt Braun, said: "The big mistake happened after the fall of the Berlin wall. The need to establish and teach democracy in the east was overlooked. We are now picking up the bill."

The quiet, stealthy rise of extremism in the state is linked to its woeful economic condition, analysts say. After reunification in 1990 manufacturing industry collapsed. Anklam's population shrank from 22,000 to 14,000 as the young fled west.

Success for the NPD tomorrow is likely to provoke an anguished debate among the ruling Christian and Social Democrats about what went wrong. Both govern in Berlin in a coalition led by Mrs Merkel.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1873834,00.html

And about today's elections in general AP wrote today this:

Germans vote in state elections that could mean gains for far right